Capturing the osmotic power between seawater and river water is thought to be an effective strategy to solve the global energy crisis. The existing designs of membrane-based nanofluids with high ion selectivity exhibit the potential for osmotic energy harvesting but suffer from high resistance and fragility, which limit their practical applications. Here we employ silk fibroin, one of the strongest natural biopolymers, to fabricate an ultrathin membrane with outstanding mechanical properties. Such a membrane whose thickness is 10 nm per layer demonstrates low resistance and high ion throughput, achieving the top level of osmotic energy conversion up to 21.66 W/m². By screening the thickness of membranes, the optimal value is found to be ∼100 nm to maximize the permeability and maintain the effective selectivity, as supported by the numerical simulation. The current system therefore provides a paradigm for the design of a high-performance energy conversion generator.

中文翻译：

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超薄耐用的丝素蛋白膜，用于高性能渗透能转换

捕获海水和河水之间的渗透力被认为是解决全球能源危机的有效策略。具有高离子选择性的基于膜的纳米流体的现有设计显示出潜在的渗透能收集能力，但是具有高电阻和易碎性，这限制了它们的实际应用。在这里，我们采用丝素蛋白（一种最强的天然生物聚合物）来制造具有出色机械性能的超薄膜。每层厚度为10 nm的这种膜表现出低电阻和高离子通量，可实现高达21.66 W / m ²的最高渗透能转换水平。通过筛选膜的厚度，发现最佳值约为100 nm，以最大程度地提高渗透率并保持有效的选择性，这在数值模拟中得到了支持。因此，当前系统为高性能能量转换发生器的设计提供了范例。