Major Contributions

1. We successfully engineered and demonstrated a novel branched alumina nanochannel (BAN) membrane with interconnected stem and branched channels, which exhibits superior osmotic energy conversion performance compared to conventional cylindrical nanochannel membranes, achieving a 130% increase in power output.

2. We validated that the BAN membrane's enhanced performance stems from its unique asymmetric structure, which combines the benefits of both large and small channels - maintaining high ion selectivity through small branched channels while reducing ion concentration polarization through large stem channels.

3. Through optimal design optimization, we achieved a record-high power density of 5.42 W/m² when mixing seawater and river water, surpassing the commercial benchmark (5 W/m²) and most existing heterogeneous membranes, while demonstrating reduced interfacial resistance due to the interconnected channel structure.


主要貢獻

1.成功開發並展示了一種具有互連主幹和分支通道的新型分支氧化鋁奈米通道(BAN)薄膜，相較於傳統圓柱形奈米通道薄膜展現出優異的滲透能量轉換性能，實現了130%的功率輸出增長。

2.證實了BAN薄膜性能提升源於其獨特的非對稱結構，該結構結合了大小通道的優勢 - 通過小分支通道維持高離子選擇性，同時通過大主幹通道降低離子濃度極化現象。

3.通過最佳化設計，在海水和河水混合時達到了5.42 W/m²的創紀錄高功率密度，超越了商業基準(5 W/m²)和大多數現有異質性薄膜，同時由於互連通道結構而展現出較低的界面電阻。