Enhancing the electrokinetic energy conversion performance with a high dielectric membrane channel.

This article focuses on modeling and analyzing nanofluidic electrokinetic energy conversion (EKEC) within dielectric membrane nanopores, emphasizing the influence of membrane dielectric constant, salt concentration, solution pH, and nanopore size on performance. Using a mathematical model based on the Poisson, Nernst–Planck, and Navier–Stokes equations, the study finds that dielectric membranes expand the electric field range, enhance electrostatic interactions, and improve ion transport, resulting in increased short-circuit current, output power, and energy conversion efficiency—particularly at low salt concentrations where efficiency is 1.26 times higher than without dielectric membranes. The research also reveals that while increasing nanopore size raises output power, it reduces energy conversion efficiency, and that higher solution pH generally decreases both output power and efficiency. These findings provide insights into optimizing nanofluidic devices for practical electrokinetic energy harvesting applications.