Metal-organic frameworks' latent potential as High-Efficiency osmotic power generators in Thin-Film nanocomposite membranes

This study investigates enhanced osmotic power generation by incorporating metal-organic framework (MOF) nanorods into the thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes for pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) applications. The spotlight is on an innovative membrane, NH2-Ce-BTC-500, which is fabricated utilizing amine-functionalized MOFs (NH2-Ce-BTC), showcasing the synergistic effects of structure and chemistry in optimizing membrane properties for power generation. The NH2-Ce-BTC-500 membrane exhibits a remarkable increase in hydrophilicity, setting a new power density benchmark of 6.9 W/m2. NH2-Ce-BTC-500 outperforms Ce-BTC-500 and pristine TFC membranes by 15 % and 109.1 %, demonstrating the superior performance of amine-functionalized membranes. Furthermore, through physical and chemical characterizations, it is revealed that the MOF-based membranes exhibit increased surface roughness and porosity, indicating the formation of additional water pathways. This enhancement leads to a substantial increase in the water flux, reaching 31.0 LMH in PRO mode, which is a 106 % improvement compared to pristine TFC membranes. This remarkable increase in water flux directly translates to enhanced power generation capacity. In essence, the NH2-Ce-BTC-500 membrane exhibits promising advancements in PRO performance, offering the potential to lower downstream energy consumption and increase power generation efficiency. This research opens up a new paradigm for developing next-generation osmotic power generation. This renewable and energy-efficient solution can address the global energy crisis by leveraging the potential of MOF nanorods in TFN membranes.