Nanofluidic energy harvesting through a biological 1D protein-embedded nanofilm membrane by interfacial polymerization

The natural ion transportation in living cells under a chemical potential difference provides diverse clues for scientific developments. In particular, selective ion flux through protein nanochannels can generate high electrical power such as seen in electric eels. However since typical purified biological proteins (e.g., Na/K nanochannels) are unstable and costly, this study is the first to use biological 1D protein channels (tobacco mosaic virus, TMV) isolated from plants. For cost-effective 1D TMV-embedded nanofilm membranes, an interfacial polymerization method was introduced with m-phenylenediamine and trimesoyl chloride. The use of m-phenylenediamine helps the self-assembly of TMVs and also assists the diffusion of TMV for vertical alignment. The TMV-embedded membrane shows the highest power density of 21.5 W/m2 under a 1000-fold concentration difference. This membrane thus holds remarkable potential for facile fabrication and alignment of biological 1D protein-embedded nanofilm membranes.