Blue Energy Harvesting Under the Salinity-Gradient Through pH-Sensitive Bio-Inspired Nanofluidic Device

We explore the pH-sensitive electrical energy generation in a salinity gradient utilizing a bio-inspired nanochannel. The underlying transport equations have been solved numerically using a commercial software based on the finite-element technique. A methodical examination of the space charge density of the PEL, EDL potential field, cationic concentration, maximum pore power, and the maximum energy conversion efficiency has been carried out for a range of the permittivity ratio of the PEL to the electrolytic layer and the pH-level of the right-side reservoir. It reveals that the space charge density magnitude inside the PEL decreases due to the basic character of the solution and the ion-partitioning effect cause. In addition, when the solution is acidic, the bio-inspired nanochannel is shown to generate the maximum pore power up to 99.51–133.62% higher than the simple nanochannel. Because of the smaller PEL space charge density magnitude, both the plane and bioinspired nanochannels produce lesser power generation and maximum efficiency for the basic kind of solution. The inferences made from the present study may lead to the design and development of high density energy-generating devices.