Single Idiosyncratic Ionic Generator Working in Iso‐Osmotic Solutions Via Ligand Confined Assembled in Gaps Between Nanosheets

Abstract

AbstractNumerous reported bioinspired osmotic energy conversion systems employing cation‐/anion‐selective membranes and solutions with different salinity are actually far from the biological counterpart. The iso‐osmotic power generator with the specific ionic permselective channels (e.g., K+ or Na+ channels) which just allow specific ions to get across and iso‐osmotic solutions still remain challenges. Inspired by nature, we report a bioinspired K+‐channel by employing a K+ selective ligand, 1,1,1‐tris{[(2′‐benzylaminoformyl)phenoxy]methyl}ethane (BMP) and graphene oxide membrane. Specifically, the K+ and Na+ selectivity of the prepared system could reach up to ≈17.8, and the molecular dynamics simulation revealed that the excellent permselectivity of K+ mainly stemmed from the formed suitable channel size. Thus, we assembled the K+‐selective iso‐osmotic power generator (KSIPG) with the power density up to ≈15.1 mW/m2 between equal concentration solutions, which is higher than traditional charge‐selective osmotic power generator (CSOPG). The proposed strategy has well shown the realizable approach to construct single‐ion selective channels‐based highly efficient iso‐osmotic energy conversion systems and would surely inspire new applications in other fields, including self‐powered systems and medical materials, etc.