The salinity gradient between brine and fresh water is an abundant source of power which can be harvested by two major membrane methods: pressure-retarded osmosis and reversed electrodialysis. Nowadays, the latter technology is close to real application, but it still suffers from low power yield. Low membrane selectivity and complex membrane fabrication are the main limiting factors. To improve that, we design a couple of ion-selective membranes based on the track-etched polymer nanopore functionalized by highly charged hydrogels. Two nanopore geometries are compared (cylindrical and conical shape) to generate osmotic energy with gel functions and more importantly can be scaled up. Experiments from the single nanopore and multipore membrane to stacked membranes show complete characterization from ionic transportation to energy generation and a clear relationship from the single pore to stacked membranes. In the actual experiment conditions, a power density of 0.37 W m^–2 at pH 7 was achieved. By improving ionic tracks and reducing intermembrane distances, it can be a good candidate for industrial applications.

中文翻译：

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高电荷的水凝胶功能化的纳米孔渗透能量的收集

盐水和淡水之间的盐度梯度是丰富的动力来源，可以通过两种主要的膜方法（压力滞后渗透法和反向电渗析法）来收集。如今，后一种技术已接近实际应用，但仍遭受着低功率产生的困扰。低的膜选择性和复杂的膜制造是主要的限制因素。为了改善这一点，我们基于由高电荷水凝胶功能化的径迹刻蚀的聚合物纳米孔，设计了几个离子选择性膜。比较了两种纳米孔的几何形状（圆柱形和圆锥形）以产生具有凝胶功能的渗透能，更重要的是可以按比例放大。从单纳米孔和多孔膜到叠层膜的实验表明，从离子迁移到能量产生具有完整的表征，并且从单孔到叠层膜之间存在明显的关系。在实际实验条件下，功率密度为0.37 W m在pH 7时达到^–2。通过改善离子轨道并减少膜间距离，它可以成为工业应用的理想选择。