Mechanically strong MXene/Kevlar nanofiber composite membranes as high-performance nanofluidic osmotic power generators
Zhang Z, Yang S, Zhang P, Zhang J, Chen G, Feng X (2019)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2019
Journal
Book Volume: 10
Article Number: 2920
Journal Issue: 1
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10885-8
Abstract
Two-dimensional nanofluidic channels are emerging candidates for capturing osmotic energy from salinity gradients. However, present two-dimensional nanofluidic architectures are generally constructed by simple stacking of pristine nanosheets with insufficient charge densities, and exhibit low-efficiency transport dynamics, consequently resulting in undesirable power densities (<1 W m−2). Here we demonstrate MXene/Kevlar nanofiber composite membranes as high-performance nanofluidic osmotic power generators. By mixing river water and sea water, the power density can achieve a value of approximately 4.1 W m−2, outperforming the state-of-art membranes to the best of our knowledge. Experiments and theoretical calculations reveal that the correlation between surface charge of MXene and space charge brought by nanofibers plays a key role in modulating ion diffusion and can synergistically contribute to such a considerable energy conversion performance. This work highlights the promise in the coupling of surface charge and space charge in nanoconfinement for energy conversion driven by chemical potential gradients.
Involved external institutions
Germany (DE)How to cite
APA:
Zhang, Z., Yang, S., Zhang, P., Zhang, J., Chen, G., & Feng, X. (2019). Mechanically strong MXene/Kevlar nanofiber composite membranes as high-performance nanofluidic osmotic power generators. Nature Communications, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10885-8
MLA:
Zhang, Zhen, et al. "Mechanically strong MXene/Kevlar nanofiber composite membranes as high-performance nanofluidic osmotic power generators." Nature Communications 10.1 (2019).
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