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Forcible wetting of hydrophobic pores represents a viable method for energy storage in the form of interfacial energy. The energy used to fill the pores can be recovered as pressure–volume work upon decompression. For efficient recovery, the expulsion pressure should not be significantly lower than the pressure required for infiltration. Hysteresis of the wetting/drying cycle associated with the kinetic barrier to liquid expulsion results in energy dissipation and reduced storage efficiency. In the present work, we use open ensemble (Grand Canonical) Monte Carlo simulations to study the improvement of energy recovery with decreasing diameters of planar pores. Near-complete reversibility is achieved at pore widths barely accommodating a monolayer of the liquid, thus minimizing the area of the liquid/gas interface during the cavitation process. At the same time, these conditions lead to a steep increase in the infiltration pressure required to overcome steric wall/water repulsion in a tight confinement and a considerable reduction in the translational entropy of confined molecules. In principle, similar effects can be expected when increasing the size of the liquid particles without altering the absorbent porosity. While the latter approach is easier to follow in laboratory work, we discuss the advantages of reducing the pore diameter, which reduces the cycling hysteresis while simultaneously improving the stored-energy density in the material.
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High-Pressure Infiltration–Expulsion of Aqueous NaCl in Planar Hydrophobic Nanopores
Permeation of water in a poorly wettable material results in a conversion of pressure/volume work into surface free energy representing a novel form of energy storage. The addition of salt increases the amount of stored energy and can reduce the hysteresis of the infiltration−expulsion cycle. Our molecular simulations provide a theoretical perspective into the mechanisms involved in the process and underlying structures and interactions in compressed nanoconfined solutions. We consider aqueous NaCl in nanosized confinements at pressures of up to 3 kbar. Open ensemble Monte Carlo simulations utilizing fractional exchanges of molecules for efficient addition−removal of ions have been utilized in conjunction with pressure-dependent chemical potentials to model bulk phases under pressure. Confinements open to these pressurized bulk, aqueous electrolyte phases show reversibility at narrow pore sizes and irreversibility in wider ones, consistent with experiment. The addition of salt increases in the solid−liquid interfacial tension in narrower pores and associated infiltration and expulsion pressures. These changes are consistent with strong desalination effects at the lower pore size observed irrespective of external pressure and initial concentration.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1800120
- PAR ID:
- 10197797
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
- ISSN:
- 1932-7447
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c07184
