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Published on: March 13, 2016
Crafting Hierarchical Nanochannels Within Boron Nitride 2D Nanofluidic Membranes for Enhanced Osmotic Energy
Donghe Sun1, Wenyi Guo1, Shuyu Li1
1State Key Laboratory of Bioinspired Interfacial Materials Science, School of Chemistry, Beihang University, Beijing, P. R. China.
Abstract:
2D nanofluidic membranes stacked from boron nitride (BN) nanosheets represent a highly promising candidate for osmotic energy harvesting. However, achieving a high ion flux through BN membranes while maintaining their inherent ion selectivity still remains a challenge. Herein, a layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly strategy was employed to fabricate BN-nanosheet/Cu(OH)2-nanowire alternately stacked membranes. After etching the sacrificial Cu(OH)2 nanowire templates, a hierarchical nanochannel architecture composed of nanowire-templated and BN-interlayer-formed nanochannels was crafted within BN membranes. These hierarchical nanochannels increased the short-circuit current of the BN membrane by 44% without obviously compromising its inherent selectivity. Consequently, the BN membrane with hierarchical nanochannels achieved an output power density of 6.95 W/m2 under a 0.01/0.5 m KCl, which was approximately 37% higher than that of the pristine BN membranes. The crafted hierarchical nanochannels surpass the majority of BN-based 2D nanofluidic membranes reported to date, while also demonstrating excellent long-term stability. A tandem stack consisting of 20 membranes with hierarchical nanochannels produces an output voltage of 1.6 V, demonstrated the capability to power electronic devices directly.
