DOI: 10.1002/smll.75020 ISSN: 1613-6810

Crafting Hierarchical Nanochannels Within Boron Nitride 2D Nanofluidic Membranes for Enhanced Osmotic Energy Harvesting

Donghe Sun, Wenyi Guo, Shuyu Li, Yixuan Li, Xingyu Wei, Yuanyuan Li, Zhaoyue Liu
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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/m 2 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.

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