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Cascade-Heterostructured Nanofluidics for Photo-Enhanced Upscaling Osmotic Energy Generation
Nan Wang1, Weiwen Xin2, Yu He1
1Key Laboratory of Functional Inorganic Material Chemistry, Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Heilongjiang University, Harbin, P. R. China.
Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
|December 30, 2025
Summary
Cascade-heterostructured nanofluidics (CHS-NFs) overcome energy harvesting limitations. These engineered systems enable efficient ion transport, achieving high selectivity and energy conversion near the theoretical limit for sustainable development.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Energy Harvesting
Background:
- Sustainable development relies on energy and resource availability.
- Nanofluidics offer potential for energy and resource harvesting.
- Commercialization is hindered by upscaling issues like potential drop and concentration polarization, degrading selectivity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To engineer novel nanofluidic systems to overcome limitations in energy and resource harvesting.
- To improve ion selectivity and flux by mitigating concentration polarization and potential drops.
- To achieve high energy conversion efficiency over large areas.
Main Methods:
- Engineered cascade-heterostructured nanofluidics (CHS-NFs) with type-I semiconductor and Schottky junctions.
- Created continuous, ultrafast pathways for coupled electron-ion transport.
- Generated nanoscale localized asymmetric electric fields at heterointerfaces.
Main Results:
- Achieved record energy conversion efficiency of 49.5%, near the theoretical limit.
- Demonstrated exceptional Na+/Cl- selectivity of 332.3 over a large area (28 mm²).
- Successfully stored generated electricity in capacitors and ion batteries, showing a 68.8% capacity increase under simulated solar irradiation.
- Enabled selective electrochemical recovery of gold with near-100% purity.
Conclusions:
- CHS-NFs effectively mitigate concentration polarization and potential drops, enabling high ion selectivity and flux.
- The engineered nanofluidics achieve unprecedented energy conversion efficiency and selectivity over large areas.
- CHS-NFs show promise for efficient energy storage and selective metal recovery, reducing industrial energy footprints.
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