MSC Seminar. 01/07/2024. Corentin Tregouet (MIE, ESPCI, PSL): “Blue energy: how to collect energy from diffusion, and what is happening at the entrance of ion-selective membranes?”

Based on osmosis, the production of electrical energy where the fresh water of rivers meets the salt water of oceans is known as Blue Energy. However, there is a considerable gap between the promising results obtained with single nanopores, and the maximum power obtained with nanoporous membranes.
Consequently, before this energy can be recovered efficiently, it is necessary to gain a detailed understanding of the flows in the nanopores of the membranes. In particular, the effects at the entrance and exit of nanopores involve complex couplings between ionic concentration, electric fields, electrostatic forces, pressure and flows, described by the advection-diffusion, Navier-Stokes, Boltzmann and Poisson equations.
Our aim is to use microfluidic chips modeling nanoporous membranes to experimentally study these phenomena under well-controlled conditions.
First, I will present unexpected results on the scaling up on classical membrane measurements. Then, I will introduce a new setup that allows us to study how we can enhance the ion transport through the complex couplings of migration, diffusion, and convection.