(256t) Effects of Temperature and Pore Size on the Nanofluidic Reverse Electrodialysis: Salinity Gradient Power Generation

Salinity gradient power is a promising, challenging, and readily available renewable energy, in human environment. Various methods for harvesting this clean energy have been proposed. Among these, the reverse elecrtodialysis based on nanochannels/nanopores seems promising and has a great potential. For the case of a charged nanopore because the diffusive flux of cations is different from that of anions, electrokinetic energy power can be generated. Since the ionic behaviors depend highly on the temperature, so is the associated power generation processes. Inspired by this, we conduct a thorough numerical simulation on the temperature influence on the nanofluidic reverse electrodialysis (NRED). We show that if the nanopore radius is sufficiently large, the conversion efficiency increases with increasing temperature. However, if the radius of the nanopore is small, the conversion efficiency decreases with increasing temperature. These behaviors are attributed to the effect of double layer overlapping. For large nanopores, the conversion efficiency decreases rapidly with increasing concentration gradient, and might show a local minimum due the contribution of coions. The results gathered in our study provide valuable and necessary information for improving the power generation efficiency in NRED as well as designing relevant units in future renewable energy plants.