The National Science Foundation Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems awarded a $218,562 Project Grant to the University of Texas at Dallas under the Engineering (47.041) federal grant program. The grant will support research to discover new fundamentals of electrokinetics over engineered interfaces and design a novel, durable slippery surface to improve electricity generation through liquid flow. Specifically, the university researchers will experimentally characterize streaming potentials of electrokinetic flow over oil-filled slippery rough surfaces to understand effects on interface charges. They will also characterize interface stability and durability of liquid-oil interfaces under different oil properties and surface textures. Insights gained will inform the design of a durable slippery surface to increase voltage generation by two orders of magnitude over solid or superhydrophobic surfaces. The research has the potential to transform development of electrokinetic energy devices for applications from small-scale power sources to scaled-up blue energy harvesting systems. The grant period is from July 15, 2022 to June 30, 2025.
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