Making use of the osmotic pressure difference between fresh water and seawater is an attractive, renewable and clean way to generate power and is known as 'blue energy' 1-3 . Another electrokinetic phenomenon, called the streaming potential, occurs when an electrolyte is driven through narrow pores either by a pressure gradient 4 or by an osmotic potential resulting from a salt concentration gradient 5 . For this task, membranes made of two-dimensional materials are expected to be the most efficient, because water transport through a membrane scales inversely with membrane thickness 5-7 . Here we demonstrate the use of single-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) nanopores as osmotic nanopower generators. We observe a large, osmotically induced current produced from a salt gradient with an estimated power density of up to 10 6 watts per square metre-a current that can be attributed mainly to the atomically thin membrane of MoS 2 . Low power requirements for nanoelectronic and optoelectric devices can be provided by a neighbouring nanogenerator that harvests energy from the local environment 8-11 -for example, a piezoelectric zinc oxide nanowire array 8 or single-layer MoS 2 (ref. 12). We use our MoS 2 nanopore generator to power a MoS 2 transistor, thus demonstrating a self-powered nanosystem.MoS 2 nanopores have already demonstrated better water-transport behaviour than graphene 13,14 owing to the enriched hydrophilic surface sites (provided by the molybdenum) that are produced following either irradiation with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) 15 or electrochemical oxidation 16 . The osmotic power is generated by separating two reservoirs containing potassium chloride (KCl) solutions of different concentrations with a freestanding MoS 2 membrane, into which a single nanopore has been introduced 13 . A chemical potential gradient arises at the interface of these two liquids at a nanopore in a 0.65-nm-thick, single-layer MoS 2 membrane, and drives ions spontaneously across the nanopore, forming an osmotic ion flux towards the equilibrium state (Fig. 1a). The presence of surface charges on the pore screens the passing ions according to their charge polarity, and thus results in a net measurable osmotic current, known as reverse electrodialysis 1 . This cation selectivity can be better understood by analysing the concentration of each ion type (potassium and chloride) as a function of the radial distance from the centre of the pore, as we show here through molecular-dynamics simulations (Fig. 1b).We fabricated MoS 2 nanopores either by TEM 13 (Fig. 1c) Distance from the centre of the pore (Å)C max /C min = 1,000C max /C min = 500C max /C min = 100 LETTER RESEARCHosmotic current can be expected, owing to the long time required for the system to reach equilibrium. We measured the osmotic current and voltage across the pore by using a pair of Ag/AgCl electrodes to characterize the current-voltage (I-V) response of the nanopore.To gain a better insight into the performance of the MoS 2 nanopore power generator, ...
Systematic experimental and theoretical studies of the hydrolysis of silicon nanomembranes at near‐neutral pH conditions reveal the roles of anion concentration and temperature. An empirical model captures the dependence of the dissolution rates on key factors, and atomic‐level simulations provide insights into the underlying chemistry.
Abstract:The present work is an experimental study of steady state convective heat transfer of de-ionized water with a low volume fraction (0.003% by volume) of copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles dispersed to form a nanofluid that flows through a copper tube. The effect of mass flow rate ranging from (0.0113 kg/s to 0.0139 kg/s) and the effect of inlet temperatures at 10 0 C and 17 0 C on the heat transfer coefficient are studied on the entry region under laminar flow condition. The results have shown 8% enhancement of the convective heat transfer coefficient of the nanofluid even with a low volume concentration of CuO nanoparticles. The heat transfer enhancement was increased considerably as the Reynolds number increased. Possible reasons for the enhancement are discussed. Nanofluid thermo-physical properties and chaotic movement of ultrafine particles which accelerate the energy exchange process are proposed to be the main reasons for the observed heat transfer enhancement. A correlation for convective heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids, based on transport property and D/x for 8 mm tube has been evolved. The correlation predicts variation in the local Nusselt number along the flow direction of the nanofluid. A good agreement (±10%) is seen between the experimental and predicted results.
Recent experiments revealed nonlinear current-voltage characteristics in a micro-nanochannel integrated system. The current characteristics were found to deviate from the classical−diffusion limited current transport theory, which predicts a saturation of the current density at higher applied voltages with an infinite differential resistance. Using a detailed 2−D nonlinear, nonideal ion-selective model, we capture and explain all the three regions observed in the experiments, by analyzing the behavior of the ionic concentration, near the depletion junction of the micronanochannel. Figure 7.6(a)), the current increases linearly with the applied voltage, following the Ohm's law. However, beyond the first critical voltage, the current deviates from the Ohmic behavior, but continues to increase with a slope smaller than that of the Ohmic region. This region (II) is often referred to as the limiting resistance region (LRR). Finally, beyond a second critical voltage, the slope of the current increases in comparison to the limiting regime and this region is typically referred to as the overlimiting current region (III). We attribute the limiting resistance region to the predominant propagation of induced space charges towards the microchannel. The overlimiting current characteristics is attributed to the redistribution of the space charges near the micro/nanochannel interface resulting in an anomalous enhancement in the ionic concentration of the electrolyte (predominantly anion concentration) in the induced space charge region (see Figure 7.6(b)). fields (region I in
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