Bioinspired Light-Driven Proton Pump: Engineering Band Alignment of WS₂ with PEDOT:PSS and PDINN

Bioinspired two-dimensional (2D) nanofluidic systems for photo-induced ion transport have attracted great attention, as they open a new pathway to enabling light-to-ionic energy conversion. However, there is still a great challenge in achieving a satisfactory performance. It is noticed that organic solar cells (OSCs, light-harvesting device based on photovoltaic effect) commonly require hole/electron transport layer materials (TLMs), PEDOT:PSS (PE) and PDINN (PD), respectively, to promote the energy conversion. Inspired by such a strategy, an artificial proton pump by coupling a nanofluidic system with TLMs is proposed, in which the PE- and PD-functionalized tungsten disulfide (WS₂) multilayers construct a heterogeneous membrane, realizing an excellent output power of ≈1.13 nW. The proton transport is fine-regulated due to the TLMs-engineered band structure of WS₂. Clearly, the incorporating TLMs of OSCs into 2D nanofluidic systems offers a feasible and promising approach for band edge engineering and promoting the light-to-ionic energy conversion.