Concrete-structured Nafion@MXene/Cellulose acetate cation exchange membrane for reverse electrodialysis

In a situation facing the limitations of previous renewable energy systems, salinity gradient power (SGP), which is not affected by climate and time, can be a new alternative. SGP can generate electricity by salt concentration difference between two feeds without pollutant emission. One of the representative SGP systems is reverse electrodialysis (RED). An essential part of the RED system is the ion exchange membrane (IEM). However, the research on IEMs for RED, with low areal resistance and high permselectivity, is still lacking. This study proposes a cation exchange membrane (CEM) with engineering nanostructure and introducing new material. [email protected]/Cellulose acetate (CA) composite CEM is fabricated by inspiration from the concrete structure of the building. The electrospun MXene/CA nanofiber is a framework, and the Nafion ionomer is a filler in structure. As a result, the [email protected]/CA CEM shows better physical/electrochemical properties than the casted Nafion and layered membrane. In addition, the [email protected]/CA CEM exhibits a higher power density (2.30 W m−2) in the RED system than the commercial membrane, casted Nafion, and layered membrane.