Direct Power Production from a Water Salinity Difference in a Membrane-Modified Supercapacitor Flow Cell

The entropy increase of mixing two solutions of different salt concentrations can be harnessed to generate electrical energy. Worldwide, the potential of this resource, the controlled mixing of river and seawater, is enormous, but existing conversion technologies are still complex and expensive. Here we present a small-scale device that directly generates electrical power from the sequential flow of fresh and saline water, without the need for auxiliary processes or converters. The device consists of a sandwich of porous “supercapacitor” electrodes, ion-exchange membranes, and a spacer and can be further miniaturized or scaled-out. Our results demonstrate that alternating the flow of saline and fresh water through a capacitive cell allows direct autogeneration of voltage and current and consequently leads to power generation. Theoretical calculations aid in providing directions for further optimization of the properties of membranes and electrodes.