Oxygen Vacancy-Modulated Molybdenum Oxide/Montmorillonite Heterointerface Nanoarchitectures for Plasmon-Enhanced Solar-Osmotic Energy Harvesting

Two-dimensional (2D) nanofluidic membranes with precise ion transport kinetics hold transformative potential for next-generation ion-selective membranes, yet their practical implementation in osmotic energy conversion remains constrained by inherent material limitations.While naturally abundant clay-based 2D nanofluidics show promise for energy harvesting applications, conventional montmorillonite (MMT) systems suffer from insufficient surface charge modulation.Here, we present a plasmon-enhanced molybdenum oxide/montmorillonite (MoO 3 /MMT) nanofluidic composite membrane that synergistically combines charge engineering and photothermal conversion for breakthrough osmotic energy harvesting.Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal the additional cation capture sites generated by oxygen vacancies enhance Na + adsorption characteristics at the heterointerface, while the embedded MoO 3 nanophase establishes a stable space charge region and introduces tunable surface charge dynamics through plasmon resonance effects.The optimized nanofluidic architecture maintains stable performance across diverse operational scenarios such as extreme pH conditions (pH 4-10), high salinity environments (up to 3 M KCl), and a wide range of ions of different sizes and charges.Remarkably, the composite membrane achieves a record power density of 10.47 W/m 2 under 50-