This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) provides $499,993 to Trustees of Tufts College to develop a novel, lightweight, and environmentally friendly battery that generates power using natural salinity gradients found in everyday fluids such as water, sweat, saliva, and urine. The proposed osmotic battery utilizes ion-selective membranes derived from two-dimensional nanomaterials to create a dry, gelatin-based architecture that eliminates the need for bulky liquid electrolytes. This configuration is expected to deliver power outputs in the hundreds of microwatts while maintaining a total device weight below 10 grams, making it ideal for low-power and space-constrained applications like wearable sensors, medical diagnostics, and ingestible electronics. The project aims to provide fundamental insights into ion transport mechanisms in nanostructured membranes and produce practical innovations in miniaturized energy harvesting technologies.
Mod # | Description | Reason For Modification | Federal Obligation (Click to sort descending) | Date (Click to sort ascending) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not listed | $500.0k | 7/7/25 |