Low-cost 2D nanochannels as biomimetic salinity- and heat-gradient power generators

Organisms can make use of the ion channels embedded on the cell membranes to harvest osmotic energy and heat energy, which provides inspirations to design artificial nanochannel-based power generators. Herein, two-dimensional (2D) montmorillonite (MMT) nanochannels are fabricated with a facile method of direct assembling the exfoliated monolayers in a liquid phase to achieve the biomimetic power generation from salinity- and heat-gradient. The high cation selectivity and sufficient ion flux enable MMT nanochannels to present high power densities of similar to 4.58 W/m(2) under 50-fold concentration gradient and similar to 0.47 W/m(2) under 30 degrees C temperature gradient, respectively. The performance can be further improved to similar to 8.53 W/m(2) to harvest the energy stored in the thermal-osmotic gradient. The facile and cost-effective MMT nanochannels open new insights into biomimetic energy conversion from various sources.

Automated summary

This study proposes a simple and effective method to fabricate two-dimensional montmorillonite nanochannels and achieves biomimetic power generation using these nanochannels. The nanochannels exhibit high cation selectivity and sufficient ion flux, resulting in high power densities. Additionally, the energy harvesting from thermal-osmotic gradient can further improve the power generation. These findings provide new insights into biomimetic energy conversion from various sources.