Bioinspired Light‐Driven Proton Pump: Engineering Band Alignment of WS2 with PEDOT:PSS and PDINN

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Germany), 2024-05, Vol.20 (18), p.e2308277-n/a
• Main Authors: Zhou, Min, Zhang, Peikun, Zhang, Ming, Jin, Xiaoyan, Zhang, Yuhui, Liu, Biying, Quan, Di, Jia, Meijuan, Zhang, Zhiguo, Zhang, Zhuhua, Kong, Xiang‐Yu, Jiang, Lei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 2D nanofluidic membrane; band edge shifting; Electron transport; electron/hole transport layer materials; Energy conversion; Fluidics; Ion transport; light‐to‐ionic energy conversion; Multilayers; Nanofluids; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaic effect; proton transport; Protons; Solar cells; Tungsten disulfide
• ISSN: 1613-6810; 1613-6829
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.202308277

Bioinspired two‐dimensional (2D) nanofluidic systems for photo‐induced ion transport have attracted great attention, as they open a new pathway to enabling light‐to‐ionic energy conversion. However, there is still a great challenge in achieving a satisfactory performance. It is noticed that organic solar cells (OSCs, light‐harvesting device based on photovoltaic effect) commonly require hole/electron transport layer materials (TLMs), PEDOT:PSS (PE) and PDINN (PD), respectively, to promote the energy conversion. Inspired by such a strategy, an artificial proton pump by coupling a nanofluidic system with TLMs is proposed, in which the PE‐ and PD‐functionalized tungsten disulfide (WS2) multilayers construct a heterogeneous membrane, realizing an excellent output power of ≈1.13 nW. The proton transport is fine‐regulated due to the TLMs‐engineered band structure of WS2. Clearly, the incorporating TLMs of OSCs into 2D nanofluidic systems offers a feasible and promising approach for band edge engineering and promoting the light‐to‐ionic energy conversion. A heterogeneous tungsten disulfide (WS2) nanofluidic membrane by sequentially stacking PEDOT:PSS functionalized WS2 (PE‐WS2) and PDINN‐functionalized WS2 (PD‐WS2) for light‐driven active ion transport. The incorporation of organic materials promotes the photogenerated carriers separation of WS2 by engineering the staggered band alignment. The maximum output power can achieve 1.13 nW in equilibrium electrolyte solution.