- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

PRX Energy

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Featured in Physics
  • Open Access

Ratchet-Based Ion Pumps for Selective Ion Separations

Alon Herman1, Joel W. Ager2,3, Shane Ardo4, and Gideon Segev1,*

  • 1School of Electrical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
  • 2Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA
  • 3Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA
  • 4Department of Chemistry, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, 92697, USA

  • *gideons1@tauex.tau.ac.il
PDF

PRX Energy 2, 023001 – Published 14 April, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PRXEnergy.2.023001

Abstract

The development of a highly selective, membrane-based ion separation technology could significantly improve the sustainability and energy efficiency of water treatment technologies and emerging applications, such as electrochemical CO2 reduction, extraction of valuable metals from seawater, and battery recycling. In this work, we show through computational modeling that an electronic flashing ratchet mechanism can be used for high-precision ion separation. The suggested ratchet-based ion pumps utilize a unique feature of electronic ratchets, frequency-dependent current reversal, to drive ions with the same charge, but different diffusion coefficient, in opposite directions. The model shows that ions whose diffusion coefficients differ by as little as 1% can be separated by driving them in opposite directions with a velocity difference as high as 1.2 mm/s. Since the pumping properties of the ratchet are determined by a time-varying electric input signal, the proposed ion pumps could be instrumental in realizing an efficient, large-scale, and fit-for-purpose system for selective ion separation. Examples of ratchet-driven systems for lithium extraction from seawater, lead removal from drinking water, and water desalination are discussed and analyzed.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

synopsis

Sorting Ions by How Fast They Move

Published 14 April, 2023

Researchers predict that a “flashing” electric ratchet could separate same-charge ions by their diffusion coefficients, a possibility that could improve the energy efficiency of processes such as water desalination and purification.

See more in Physics

Popular Summary

Capabilities to extract a single solute from water can advance the sustainability and efficiency of various applications, such as water desalination and lithium extraction from seawater. Here, the authors explore flashing ratchets, which are devices that use asymmetric and temporally varying electric potentials to drive a net particle current. Computational modeling shows that ratchet-based ion pumps can drive ions with very similar properties in opposite directions. As a result, such devices are promising for removing specific ions, even trace amounts, from a mixed solution. Since the membrane is operated by an electric signal, the target ions can be tuned in real time, paving the way for simple fit-to-purpose selective ion separation systems.

Article Text

References (62)

  1. C. Tang and M. L. Bruening, Ion separations with membranes, J. Polym. Sci. 58, 2831 (2020).
  2. R. Epsztein, R. M. DuChanois, C. L. Ritt, A. Noy, and M. Elimelech, Towards single-species selectivity of membranes with subnanometre pores, Nat. Nanotechnol. 15, 426 (2020).
  3. D. S. Sholl and R. P. Lively, Seven chemical separations to change the world, Nature 532, 435 (2016).
  4. P. J. J. Alvarez, C. K. Chan, M. Elimelech, N. J. Halas, and D. Villagrán, Emerging opportunities for nanotechnology to enhance water security, Nat. Nanotechnol. 13, 634 (2018) 2018 138.
  5. F. Fu and Q. Wang, Removal of heavy metal ions from wastewaters: A review, J. Environ. Manage. 92, 407 (2011).
  6. J. R. Werber, C. O. Osuji, and M. Elimelech, Materials for next-generation desalination and water purification membranes, Nat. Rev. Mater. 1, 1 (2016).
  7. A. Goyal, G. Marcandalli, V. A. Mints, and M. T. M. Koper, Competition between CO2 reduction and hydrogen evolution on a gold electrode under well-defined mass transport conditions, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 142, 4154 (2020).
  8. G. Segev, et al., The 2022 solar fuels roadmap, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 55, 323003 (2022).
  9. C. Xu, Q. Dai, L. Gaines, M. Hu, A. Tukker, and B. Steubing, Future material demand for automotive lithium-based batteries, Commun. Mater. 1, 99 (2020).
  10. C. Liu, Y. Li, D. Lin, P.-C. Hsu, B. Liu, G. Yan, T. Wu, Y. Cui, and S. Chu, Lithium extraction from seawater through pulsed electrochemical intercalation, Joule 4, 1459 (2020).
  11. C. Tang, A. Yaroshchuk, and M. L. Bruening, Flow through negatively charged, nanoporous membranes separates Li+ and K+ due to induced electromigration, Chem. Commun. 56, 10954 (2020).
  12. J. A. Armstrong, E. E. L. Bernal, A. Yaroshchuk, and M. L. Bruening, Separation of ions using polyelectrolyte-modified nanoporous track-etched membranes, Langmuir 29, 10287 (2013).
  13. A. E. Yaroshchuk, Asymptotic behaviour in the pressure-driven separations of ions of different mobilities in charged porous membranes, J. Membr. Sci. 167, 163 (2000).
  14. A. E. Yaroshchuk, Dielectric exclusion of ions from membranes, Adv. Colloid Interface Sci. 85, 193 (2000).
  15. A. E. Yaroshchuk, Negative rejection of ions in pressure-driven membrane processes, Adv. Colloid Interface Sci. 139, 150 (2008).
  16. P. Hänggi and F. Marchesoni, Artificial Brownian motors: Controlling transport on the nanoscale, Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 387 (2009).
  17. P. Reimann, Brownian motors: Noisy transport far from equilibrium, Phys. Rep. 361, 57 (2002).
  18. B. Lau and O. Kedem, Electron ratchets: State of the field and future challenges, J. Chem. Phys. 152, 200901 (2020).
  19. O. Kedem, B. Lau, and E. A. Weiss, How to drive a flashing electron ratchet to maximize current, Nano Lett. 17, 5848 (2017).
  20. O. Kedem, B. Lau, and E. A. Weiss, Mechanisms of symmetry breaking in a multidimensional flashing particle ratchet, ACS Nano 11, 7148 (2017).
  21. O. Andersson, J. Maas, G. Gelinck, and M. Kemerink, Scalable electronic ratchet with over 10% rectification efficiency, Adv. Sci. 7, 1902428 (2020).
  22. P. Olbrich, J. Kamann, M. König, J. Munzert, L. Tutsch, J. Eroms, D. Weiss, Ming-Hao Liu, L. E. Golub, E. L. Ivchenko, V. V. Popov, D. V. Fateev, K. V. Mashinsky, F. Fromm, Th. Seyller, and S. D. Ganichev, Terahertz ratchet effects in graphene with a lateral superlattice, Phys. Rev. B 93, 075422 (2016).
  23. P. Faltermeier, P. Olbrich, W. Probst, L. Schell, T. Watanabe, S. A. Boubanga-Tombet, T. Otsuji, and S. D. Ganichev, Helicity sensitive terahertz radiation detection by dual-grating-gate high electron mobility transistors, J. Appl. Phys. 118, 084301 (2015).
  24. M. Kabir, D. Unluer, L. Li, A. W. Ghosh, and M. R. Stan, in 2011 11th IEEE Int. Conf. Nanotechnol. (2011), pp. 482.
  25. O. Kedem, B. Lau, M. A. Ratner, and E. A. Weiss, Light-responsive organic flashing electron ratchet, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 114, 8698 (2017).
  26. T. Tanaka, Y. Nakano, and S. Kasai, GaAs-based nanowire devices with multiple asymmetric gates for electrical Brownian ratchets, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 52, 06GE07 (2013).
  27. H. Linke, T. E. Humphrey, A. Löfgren, A. O. Sushkov, R. Newbury, R. P. Taylor, and P. Omling, Experimental tunneling ratchets, Science 286, 2314 (1999).
  28. O. V. Mikhnenko, S. D. Collins, and T. Q. Nguyen, Rectifying electrical noise with an ionic-organic ratchet, Adv. Mater. 27, 2007 (2015).
  29. Y. Hu, V. Brus, W. Cao, K. Liao, H. Phan, M. Wang, K. Banerjee, G. C. Bazan, and T. Q. Nguyen, Understanding the device physics in polymer-based ionic-organic ratchets, Adv. Mater. 29, 1606464 (2017).
  30. S. Hubmann, V. V. Bel’kov, L. E. Golub, V. Y. Kachorovskii, M. Drienovsky, J. Eroms, D. Weiss, and S. D. Ganichev, Giant ratchet magneto-photocurrent in graphene lateral superlattices, Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 033186 (2020).
  31. E. M. Roeling, W. C. Germs, B. Smalbrugge, E. J. Geluk, T. De Vries, R. A. J. Janssen, and M. Kemerink, Organic electronic ratchets doing work, Nat. Mater. 10, 51 (2011).
  32. E. M. Roeling, W. C. Germs, B. Smalbrugge, E. J. Geluk, T. De Vries, R. A. J. Janssen, and M. Kemerink, The performance of organic electronic ratchets, AIP Adv. 2, 012106 (2012).
  33. S. Marbach and L. Bocquet, Active sieving across driven nanopores for tunable selectivity, J. Chem. Phys. 147, 154701 (2017).
  34. S. Marbach, N. Kavokine, and L. Bocquet, Resonant osmosis across active switchable membranes, J. Chem. Phys. 152, 054704 (2020).
  35. J. M. R. Parrondo, J. M. Blanco, F. J. Cao, and R. Brito, Efficiency of Brownian motors, Europhys. Lett. 43, 248 (1998).
  36. R. Nouri and W. Guan, Nanofluidic charged-coupled devices for controlled DNA transport and separation, Nanotechnology 32, 345501 (2021).
  37. S. Ardo, G. Segev, F. M. Toma, J. W. Ager, R. Kautz, and D. M. Larson, Ratchet-Based Ion Pumping Membrane Systems. US20200402782A1 (2020).
  38. V. M. Rozenbaum, T. Y. Korochkova, A. A. Chernova, and M. L. Dekhtyar, Brownian motor with competing spatial and temporal asymmetry of potential energy, Phys. Rev. E Stat. Nonlin. Soft Matter. Phys. 83, 051120 (2011).
  39. M. S. Kodaimati, O. Kedem, G. C. Schatz, and E. A. Weiss, Empirical mappings of the frequency response of an electron ratchet to the characteristics of the polymer transport layer, J. Phys. Chem. C 123, 22050 (2019).
  40. M. J. Skaug, C. Schwemmer, S. Fringes, C. D. Rawlings, and A. W. Knoll, Nanofluidic rocking Brownian motors, Science 359, 1505 (2018).
  41. C. Schwemmer, S. Fringes, U. Duerig, Y. K. Ryu, and A. W. Knoll, Experimental Observation of Current Reversal in a Rocking Brownian Motor, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 104102 (2018).
  42. Q. Chen, B. Q. Ai, and J. W. Xiong, Brownian transport of finite size particles in a periodic channel coexisting with an energetic potential, Chaos 24, 033119 (2014).
  43. A. Słapik, J. Łuczka, P. Hänggi, and J. Spiechowicz, Tunable Mass Separation via Negative Mobility, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 070602 (2019).
  44. T. Motz, G. Schmid, P. Hänggi, D. Reguera, and J. M. Rubí, Optimizing the performance of the entropic splitter for particle separation, J. Chem. Phys. 141, 074104 (2014).
  45. D. Reguera, A. Luque, P. S. Burada, G. Schmid, J. M. Rubí, and P. Hänggi, Entropic Splitter for Particle Separation, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 020604 (2012).
  46. B. Yang, F. Long, and D. C. Mei, Negative mobility and multiple current reversals induced by colored thermal fluctuation in an asymmetric periodic potential, Eur. Phys. J. B 85, 1 (2012).
  47. P. Nicollier, C. Schwemmer, F. Ruggeri, D. Widmer, X. Ma, and A. W. Knoll, Nanometer-Scale-Resolution Multichannel Separation of Spherical Particles in a Rocking Ratchet with Increasing Barrier Heights, Phys. Rev. Appl. 15, 034006 (2021).
  48. V. M. Rozenbaum, I. V. Shapochkina, Y. Teranishi, and L. I. Trakhtenberg, Symmetry of deterministic ratchets, Phys. Rev. E 100, 022115 (2019).
  49. V. M. Rozenbaum, High-temperature Brownian motors: Deterministic and stochastic fluctuations of a periodic potential, JETP Lett. 88, 342 (2008).
  50. T. Luo, S. Abdu, and M. Wessling, Selectivity of ion exchange membranes: A review, J. Membr. Sci. 555, 429 (2018).
  51. T. Sata, Studies on anion exchange membranes having permselectivity for specific anions in electrodialysis—effect of hydrophilicity of anion exchange membranes on permselectivity of anions, J. Membr. Sci. 167, 1 (2000).
  52. T. Sata, T. Sata, and W. Yang, Studies on cation-exchange membranes having permselectivity between cations in electrodialysis, J. Membr. Sci. 206, 31 (2002).
  53. T. Luo, F. Roghmans, and M. Wessling, Ion mobility and partition determine the counter-ion selectivity of ion exchange membranes, J. Membr. Sci. 597, 117645 (2020).
  54. E. T. Acar, S. F. Buchsbaum, C. Combs, F. Fornasiero, and Z. S. Siwy, Biomimetic potassium-selective nanopores, Sci. Adv. 5, eaav2568 (2019).
  55. Xingya Li, Huacheng Zhang, Peiyao Wang, Jue Hou, Jun Lu, Christopher D. Easton, Xiwang Zhang, Matthew R. Hill, Aaron W. Thornton, Jefferson Zhe Liu, Benny D. Freeman, Anita J. Hill, Lei Jiang, and Huanting Wang, Fast and selective fluoride ion conduction in sub-1-nanometer metal-organic framework channels, Nat. Commun. 10, 2490 (2019).
  56. S. Yang, F. Zhang, H. Ding, and P. He, Lithium metal extraction from seawater, Joule 2, 1648 (2018).
  57. B. Swain, Recovery and recycling of lithium: A review, Sep. Purif. Technol. 172, 388 (2017).
  58. J. Rabinowitz, C. Cohen, and K. L. Shepard, An electrically actuated, carbon-nanotube-based biomimetic ion pump, Nano Lett. 20, 1148 (2020).
  59. S. Kim, E. I. Ozalp, and J. A. Weldon, Stacked gated nanofluidic logic gate membrane, IEEE Trans. Nanotechnol. 18, 536 (2019).
  60. S. Kim, E. I. Ozalp, M. Darwish, and J. A. Weldon, Electrically gated nanoporous membranes for smart molecular flow control, Nanoscale 10, 20740 (2018).
  61. T. Cebeci and P. Bradshaw, Physical and Computational Aspects of Convective Heat Transfer (Springer, New York, NY, 1988).
  62. F. Harnisch and U. Schröder, Selectivity versus mobility: Separation of anode and cathode in microbial bioelectrochemical systems, ChemSusChem 2, 921 (2009).

Outline

Information

PRX Energy 2, 023001– Published 14 April, 2023
  • Received 16 November 2022
  • Revised 7 March 2023
  • Accepted 13 March 2023
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation