The blue energy (salinity gradient energy) identified as a promising non-intermittent renewable energy source. However, this membrane-based technology is facing major limitation for large-scale viability, primarily due to the poor membrane performance. The atomically thin 2D nano porous material with high surface charge density resolving the bottle neck and leading to a new class of membrane material for the salinity gradient energy. Although the 2D nano porous membrane are showing extremely high performance in terms of energy generation through single pore, but the fabrication and technical challenge (like ion concentration polarization) making the nano porous membrane a non-viable solution. On the other hand, the meso and macro porous structures in 2D membrane are showing improved energy generation capacity. The laser assisted (femtosecond and ultrafast laser) technique making the fabrication of these pores quick, low complex and hence making the membrane technology viable.
In the present work, we will discuss the femtosecond laser assisted scalable micro to mm size pores on graphene coated copper (Gr/Cu) membrane for blue energy generation. We will demonstrate the blue energy generation system and the initial experiment result with the pore size variation.