A popular method to harvest solar power is to convert light to heat, then to the kinetic energy of water, and finally to electricity, so-called concentrating solar power. However, it requires highly bulky components, limiting the applications. In this study, we present a miniaturized nanofluidic version—simply placing a MXene film on ionic solution and exposing part of the film to light. The distinguished photothermal property of MXene converts the asymmetric light irradiation to a water evaporation gradient, pumping water through the nanofluidic channels in the film, which transports cations and results in an ionic current. We expect this study to inspire more studies to explore the possibility of nanofluidic photothermal electricity as an alternative solar electricity technology for dispatched electricity generation and powering microfluidic/nanofluidic devices.

一种流行的收集太阳能的方法是将光转换为热，然后转换为水的动能，最后转换为电，即所谓的聚光太阳能。但是，它需要非常庞大的组件，从而限制了应用程序。在这项研究中，我们提出了一种微型的纳米流体版本-只需将MXene薄膜放在离子溶液上，然后将薄膜的一部分暴露在光下即可。MXene独特的光热特性将不对称光照射转换为水蒸发梯度，从而将水泵送通过薄膜中的纳米流体通道，从而传输阳离子并产生离子电流。