Chinese researchers have developed membrane materials that use salt energy to generate electricity
time：2018-10-30
Xinhua News Agency, Washington, October 28 (Reporter Zhou Zhou) Chinese researchers have developed a three-dimensional porous membrane that can be prepared on a large scale, and is expected to efficiently convert salt differences in river estuaries into electrical energy.
Researchers at the Jiang Lei Academician Research Group of the Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Jiang Zhenhua Research Group of Jilin University reported in a new issue of the journal Science Progress that the porous membrane has high energy conversion efficiency and can achieve 2 square meters per square meter. .66 watts or even higher power generation, reaching commercial standards.
At the entrance to the river, due to the different salinity of fresh water and seawater, the seawater has osmotic pressure for fresh water, as well as concentration difference energy such as dilution heat, absorption heat, and concentration difference. This energy, also known as salt energy, can be converted into electricity and is therefore a clean energy source.
The researchers said that if the three-dimensional porous membrane is placed at the mouth of the river, the difference in ion concentration between them will lead to the directional movement of the salt. The porous membrane will allow charged ions of a certain polarity to pass, selectively filtering out the opposite polarity of the charged Ions, which produce a net current.
In the experiment, the researchers made a tiny generator with this membrane material as the main component, which can power a calculator and work for 120 hours under seawater/river salinity conditions, and the current is not weakened.
Although the principle of salt difference power generation is not new, the related technologies have been inefficient and costly, and have not been widely applied. Dr. Zhou Yahong, author of the paper, said that this porous membrane has great potential in commercial applications, considering its stability and its ability to be prepared in large areas.
Researchers at the Jiang Lei Academician Research Group of the Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Jiang Zhenhua Research Group of Jilin University reported in a new issue of the journal Science Progress that the porous membrane has high energy conversion efficiency and can achieve 2 square meters per square meter. .66 watts or even higher power generation, reaching commercial standards.
At the entrance to the river, due to the different salinity of fresh water and seawater, the seawater has osmotic pressure for fresh water, as well as concentration difference energy such as dilution heat, absorption heat, and concentration difference. This energy, also known as salt energy, can be converted into electricity and is therefore a clean energy source.
The researchers said that if the three-dimensional porous membrane is placed at the mouth of the river, the difference in ion concentration between them will lead to the directional movement of the salt. The porous membrane will allow charged ions of a certain polarity to pass, selectively filtering out the opposite polarity of the charged Ions, which produce a net current.
In the experiment, the researchers made a tiny generator with this membrane material as the main component, which can power a calculator and work for 120 hours under seawater/river salinity conditions, and the current is not weakened.
Although the principle of salt difference power generation is not new, the related technologies have been inefficient and costly, and have not been widely applied. Dr. Zhou Yahong, author of the paper, said that this porous membrane has great potential in commercial applications, considering its stability and its ability to be prepared in large areas.