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Nanofluidic reverse electrodialysis provides an attractive way to harvest osmotic energy. However, most attention was paid to monotonous membrane structure optimization to promote selective ion transport, while the role of external fields and relevant mechanisms are rarely explored. Here, we demonstrate a Kevlar‐toughened tungsten disulfide (WS2) composite membrane with bioinspired serosa‐mimetic structures as an efficient osmotic energy generator coupling light. As a result, the output power could be up to 16.43 W m−2 under irradiation, outperforming traditional two‐dimensional (2D) membranes. Both the experiment and simulation uncover that the generated photothermal and photoelectronic effects could synergistically promote the confined ion transport process. In addition, this membrane also possesses great anti‐fouling properties, endowing its practical application. This work paves new avenues for sustainable power generation by coupling solar energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological ion channels existing in organisms are critical for many biological processes. Inspired by biological ion channels, the heterogeneous electrospinning nanofiber membranes (HENM) with functional ion channels are constructed by electrospinning technology. The HENM successfully realizes ion‐gating effects, which can be used for tunable energy conversions. Introduction of pyridine and carboxylic acid groups into the HENM plays an important role in generating unique and stable ion transport behaviors, in which gates become alternative states of open and close, responding to symmetric/asymmetric pH stimulations. Then we used the HENM to convert osmotic energy into electric energy which reach a maximum value up to 12.34 W m−2 and the output power density of HENM‐based system could be regulated by ion‐gating effects. The properties of the HENM provide widespread potentials in application of smart nanofluidic devices, energy conversion, and water treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging heterogeneous membranes show unprecedented superiority in harvesting the osmotic energy between ionic solutions of different salinity. However, the power densities are limited by the low interfacial transport efficiency caused by a mismatch of pore alignment and insufficient coupling between channels of different dimensions. Here we demonstrate the use of three-dimensional (3D) gel interface to achieve high-performance osmotic energy conversion through hybridizing polyelectrolyte hydrogel and aramid nanofiber membrane. The ionic diode effect of the heterogeneous membrane facilitates one-way ion diffusion, and the gel layer provides a charged 3D transport network, greatly enhancing the interfacial transport efficiency. When used for harvesting the osmotic energy from the mixing of sea and river water, the heterogeneous membrane outperforms the state-of-the-art membranes, to the best of our knowledge, with power densities of 5.06 W m−2. The diversity of the polyelectrolyte and gel makes our strategy a potentially universal approach for osmotic energy conversion. Heterogeneous membranes show great promise in harvesting the osmotic energy, but the performance is limited by the low interfacial transport efficiency. Here, the authors report use of a three-dimensional polyelectrolyte gel interface to achieve high-performance osmotic energy conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]