Enhanced nanofluidic transport in activated carbon nanoconduits

Carbon has emerged as a unique material in nanofluidics, with reports of fast water transport, molecular ion separation and efficient osmotic energy conversion. Many of these phenomena still await proper rationalization due to the lack of fundamental understanding of nanoscale ionic transport, which...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature materials 2022-06, Vol.21 (6), p.696-702
Main Authors: Emmerich, Theo, Vasu, Kalangi S, Niguès, Antoine, Keerthi, Ashok, Radha, Boya, Siria, Alessandro, Bocquet, Lydéric
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activated carbon
Biological Transport
Carbon
Charcoal
Crystals
Electrification
Energy conversion
Energy harvesting
Fabrication
Fluidics
Graphite
Ion Transport
Ions
Life Sciences
Molecular ions
Nanochannels
Nanofluids
Nanomaterials
Nanostructures
Nanotechnology
Physics
Slippage
Surface charge
Transport properties
Water transport
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Summary:Carbon has emerged as a unique material in nanofluidics, with reports of fast water transport, molecular ion separation and efficient osmotic energy conversion. Many of these phenomena still await proper rationalization due to the lack of fundamental understanding of nanoscale ionic transport, which can only be achieved in controlled environments. Here we develop the fabrication of 'activated' two-dimensional carbon nanochannels. Compared with nanoconduits with 'pristine' graphite walls, this enables the investigation of nanoscale ionic transport in great detail. We show that activated carbon nanochannels outperform pristine channels by orders of magnitude in terms of surface electrification, ionic conductance, streaming current and (epi-)osmotic currents. A detailed theoretical framework enables us to attribute the enhanced ionic transport across activated carbon nanochannels to an optimal combination of high surface charge and low friction. Furthermore, this demonstrates the unique potential of activated carbon for energy harvesting from salinity gradients with single-pore power density across activated carbon nanochannels, reaching hundreds of kilowatts per square metre, surpassing alternative nanomaterials.
ISSN:1476-1122
1476-4660
DOI:10.1038/s41563-022-01229-x