Membrane nanoarchitectonics: Advanced nanoporous membranes for osmotic power generation

Abstract

During the last decades, the scientific community has devoted great efforts in the search for newways to produce sustainable energy [1]. Given this scenario, the possibility of converting theosmotic energy (also referred to as salinity gradient energy [SGE] or blue energy) involved whentwo solutions of different concentrations are mixed into electrical energy is very attractive, due notonly to its high availability but also to its relatively low environmental impact [24]. Up to now,different methods have been proposed to tackle this aim, such as reverse electrodialysis (RED),pressure retarded osmosis (PRO), and capacitive mixing [5,6].