Sustainable Chitin-Derived 2D Nanosheets with Hierarchical Ion Transport for Osmotic Energy Harvesting

Zhongrun Xiang, Yu Chen, Zhijiang Xie, Kaiyu Yuan, Yue Shu, Pan Chen, Huiqing Wang*, Dongdong Ye*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Generating electricity from salinity-gradient waters with nanofluidic structures is a promising approach for achieving zero-emission energy goals and addressing escalating energy crises. However, the ingenious design and development of biomass membranes that satisfy the requirements of sustainability, low-cost, long-term stability, and high output power density is a crucial challenge. This work reports two-dimensional (2D) hierarchical-structured chitin nanosheets (2D H-CNS) with abundant micro-/nano-pore structures through chemical modification, acid vapor treatment, and ultrasound-assisted exfoliation. The results showed that surface charge modification not only promotes the loosening and controllable exfoliation of the dense chitin structure into ultra-thin 2D H-CNS (1.34 nm) but also increases the porosity and enhances the ion transport flux and selectivity of the nanosheets. Furthermore, experimental and simulation confirm that hierarchical ion transport in nanosheet-assembled membranes (2D-HM) substantially enhances ion transport performance, with an 18.5 times improvement in ion conductance over dense nanosheet-assembled membranes (2D-DM). Furthermore, 2D-HM embedded in an energy harvesting system achieved an output power density of 2.59 W m−2, 2.51 times that of 2D-DM. This study promotes the development of all-biomass materials with high-performance osmotic energy harvesting.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2402304
JournalAdvanced Energy Materials
Volume14
Issue number36
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Sept 2024

Keywords

  • chitin
  • exfoliation
  • ion transport
  • nanosheets
  • osmotic energy harvesting

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Xiang, Z., Chen, Y., Xie, Z., Yuan, K., Shu, Y., Chen, P., Wang, H., & Ye, D. (2024). Sustainable Chitin-Derived 2D Nanosheets with Hierarchical Ion Transport for Osmotic Energy Harvesting. Advanced Energy Materials, 14(36), Article 2402304. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202402304