Porous Anode Research Articles

Surface Characterization and Optimization of Porous Zinc Anodes to Improve Cycle Stability by Mitigating Dendritic Growth

Zinc-based batteries are a scalable and safe alternative to Lithium-ion batteries due to the nature of abundance, low cost and easy to process. In this work, we have successfully synthesized porous zinc electrodes (PZEs) via a gel-binder method that can stably charge and discharge for over 700 h at 1 mA cm−2 before showing signs of failure. We compared PZEs synthesized from small (60 nm), intermediate (10 μm), and large (150 μm) zinc particles to determine which surface features are best suited to mitigate dendritic growth and to improve electrolyte stability. The zinc deposits on the large PZE shows a stable and flat morphology, which does not form the hexagonal close-packed (HCP) crystal structure that is typically seen on planar zinc anodes. The intermediate PZE has an increased affinity to deposit onto the glass microfiber separator leading to a decrease of active material on the anode that causes instability during galvanostatic cycling. Both planar zinc and small PZE show HCP deposits that are normal to the surface, which result in very poor electrochemical performance. As the particle size increases, the deposits transition from HCP crystals to flat amorphous metal deposits, increasing cyclic stability.

High energy density lithium-ion capacitor enabled by nitrogen-doped amorphous carbon linked hierarchically porous Co3O4 nanofibers anode and porous carbon polyhedron cathode

Lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) are emerging as progressive energy storage systems with high energy density, high power output, and a long cycle life span. The key to constructing LICs with high performances is alleviating the dynamics mismatch between the faradic anode and capacitor-type cathode. Herein, nitrogen-doped amorphous carbon linked hierarchically porous Co 3 O 4 nanofibers (NAC- l -Co 3 O 4 NFs) were prepared by electrospinning strategy, where the amorphous carbon can mitigation the volume variation of Co 3 O 4 during the lithiation/delithiation process, while the hierarchically porous structure provides effective channels and exposes more active sites for fast electron transfer and Li + storage. The delicate structure endows NAC- l -Co 3 O 4 NFs with remarkable rate capacity and robust cycling durability. Furthermore, nitrogen-doped carbon polyhedron (NPCP) is prepared for the cathode, displaying superior rate performances and cycling stability. As a result, by assembling the NAC- l -Co 3 O 4 //NPCP LICs, a high energy density of 296 Wh kg −1 and a high output of 11750 W kg −1 is delivered. Additionally, the LIC devices display excellent cycle lifespan (80% capacity retention after 10000 cycles at 1 A g −1 ). • Nitrogen-doped amorphous carbon-linked Co 3 O 4 1D nanostructured anode (NAC-l-Co 3 O 4 NFs) is fabricated via electrospinning technique. • The 1D nanofibers interlink into a 3D network further facilitating ions/electrons transmittability. • The LIC assembled with NAC- l -Co 3 O 4 anode shows an ultrahigh energy density (357 Wh kg) and excellent cycling stability.

Electrocatalytic performance of oxygen-activated carbon fibre felt anodes mediating degradation mechanism of acetaminophen in aqueous environments.

Carbon felts are flexible and scalable, have high specific areas, and are highly conductive materials that fit the requirements for both anodes and cathodes in advanced electrocatalytic processes. Advanced oxidative modification processes (thermal, chemical, and plasma-chemical) were applied to carbon felt anodes to enhance their efficiency towards electro-oxidation. The modification of the porous anodes results in increased kinetics of acetaminophen degradation in aqueous environments. The utilised oxidation techniques deliver single-step, straightforward, eco-friendly, and stable physiochemical reformation of carbon felt surfaces. The modifications caused minor changes in both the specific surface area and total pore volume corresponding with the surface morphology. A pristine carbon felt electrode was capable of decomposing up to 70% of the acetaminophen in a 240min electrolysis process, while the oxygen-plasma treated electrode achieved a removal yield of 99.9% estimated utilising HPLC-UV-Vis. Here, the electro-induced incineration kinetics of acetaminophen resulted in a rate constant of 1.54 h-1, with the second-best result of 0.59 h-1 after oxidation in 30% H2O2. The kinetics of acetaminophen removal was synergistically studied by spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques, revealing various reaction pathways attributed to the formation of intermediate compounds such as p-aminophenol and others. The enhancement of the electrochemical oxidation rates towards acetaminophen was attributed to the appearance of surface carbonyl species. Our results indicate that the best-performing plasma-chemical treated CFE follows a heterogeneous mechanism with only approx. 40% removal due to direct electro-oxidation. The degradation mechanism of acetaminophen at the treated carbon felt anodes was proposed based on the detected intermediate products. Estimation of the cost-effectiveness of removal processes, in terms of energy consumption, was also elaborated. Although the study was focussed on acetaminophen, the achieved results could be adapted to also process emerging, hazardous pollutant groups such as anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals.

Effects of Radial and Circumferential Flows on Power Density Improvements of Tubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Improving the power density of SOFC stacks will accelerate their integration into mobile applications. We developed a 3D Multiphysics model validated by experimental results from early studies to examine the effect of radial and circumferential flows on the power density improvements in a micro-tubular SOFC. The inserts were placed inside the fuel channel to generate flow in different directions. The effects of geometric parameters of these inserts on flow and mass transfer in the fuel channel and porous anode were analyzed. We demonstrate that the radial flow enables the fuel to penetrate directly into the porous anode, increasing the local fuel concentration and enhancing the fuel diffusion to the anode triple-phase boundaries. We found that the circumferential flow has a negligible effect on the diffusion process in the anode and on the increase in power density. The impact of local convective and diffusive mass transfer mechanisms on power density improvement is analyzed using the local Péclet number along the axial direction. Enlarging the radial velocity component perpendicular to the porous anode could effectively increase the power density of the micro-tubular SOFC by 37%. This study helps improve our understanding of mass transfer in fuel channels and helps build a foundation for SOFC channel designs and optimizations.

Constructing porous lignin-based carbon nanofiber anodes with flexibility for high-performance lithium/sodium-ion batteries

Lithium (Li)/sodium (Na)-ion batteries have been widely studied as energy storage power sources because of their long cycle life and high energy density. Lignin, which is environmentally friendly, inexpensive, and has a high carbon content, is considered one of the most promising raw materials for anodes. Hence, in this study, a porous lignin-based carbon nanofiber anode was obtained using gas–electric blending. The prepared anode is flexible, self-supporting, and can be directly used without any binders in Li/Na-ion batteries. It showed an excellent first reversible specific capacity of 1783.8 mAh/g at 0.2 C current density and maintained a specific capacity of 1429.7 mAh/g after 50 cycles in the Li-ion battery. Even at a high current density of 2 C, it exhibited a high reversible specific capacity of 1135.4 mA/h/g in the first cycle and retained 1064.7 mAh/g after 100 cycles. Furthermore, it also exhibited an excellent specific discharge capacity, stable cycle performance, and high rate performance in Na-ion batteries. This study demonstrates that lignin has broad application prospects as a high-performance energy storage material.

Ammonia crossover in thermally regenerative ammonia-based batteries for low-grade waste heat recovery

Ammonia crossover usually occurs in thermally regenerative ammonia-based batteries (TRABs) and significantly deteriorates the performance. In this study, the effect of ammonia crossover on the performance of TRABs and its influencing factors are studied. In addition, an ammonia-breathing thermally regenerative ammonia-based battery with an ammonia gas chamber (ATRB) is constructed by regulating the structure of the gas diffusion layer to control ammonia transfer in the anode. The results show that the cathode performance remarkably decreases with the increase of ammonia content in the cathode, and the amount of ammonia crossover increase with the rise of initial ammonia concentration, discharging current, and temperature. The visualization results show that TRAB with the ammonia diffusion layer can effectively alleviate the ammonia crossover by regulating ammonia transfer. The content of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) in the gas diffusion layer significantly influences ammonia transfer to the porous anode and the cathode. The battery performance increases firstly and decreases later with the PTFE content, and an optimal PTFE content is 20%.

Suppressing the Exacerbated Hydrogen Evolution of Porous Zn Anode with an Artificial Solid-Electrolyte Interphase Layer.

Rechargeable Zn batteries are widely studied as aqueous, safe, and environmentally friendly alternatives to Li-ion batteries. The 3D porous Zn anode has been extensively reported for suppressing Zn dendrite growth and accelerating the electrode kinetics. However, we demonstrate herein that the undesirable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is also exacerbated for porous Zn electrode. Therefore, a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coating is further applied on the porous Zn serving as the artificial solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI), which is demonstrated to effectively inhibit the hydrogen evolution and maintain the Zn plating kinetics. By utilizing the synergistic effects of the porous morphology and artificial SEI layer, better performances are obtained over porous Zn or bare Zn foil, including dendrite-free Zn plating/stripping up to 2000 h at 2 mA cm-2 and extended cycling in the Zn||V2O5 cell. This work suggests two complementary strategies for achieving simultaneously dendrite-free and side-reaction-suppressed Zn batteries.

Surface Modification of TiO2 Nanotubes Prepared by Porous Titanium Anodization via Hydrothermal Reaction: A Method for Synthesis High-Efficiency Adsorbents of Recovering Sr Ions.

The recycling of strontium ions (Sr2+) from sea water has been well known for its good cost-effectiveness and environment friendliness. Herein, we modified the surface of TiO2 nanotubes (TNTs) prepared by porous titanium anodization via hydrothermal (HT) reaction and synthesized a highly efficient adsorbent for the repeated recycling of Sr2+. TNTs with a high specific surface area were manufactured on porous titanium by internal anodic oxidation. The as-prepared TNTs were treated by HT method to synthesize adsorption materials with a tubular bottom and grass-type top structure loaded with Na+. The surface cracks were eliminated by annealing pretreatment, and the investigation found that the 6 h HT reaction most effectively increased the Na+ content in the adsorbent. The as-synthesized adsorbents (HT-6TNTs) were used to recover Sr2+, and the maximum adsorption efficiency (approximately 100%) and adsorption equilibrium were observed within 10 h. Meanwhile, three consecutive cycles of adsorption experiments proved the uniform behavior of the HT-6TNTs in the reproducible recycling of Sr2+. In addition, by increasing the anodization time of TNTs from 0.5 to 3 h, the maximum adsorption capacity can be increased from 4.68 to 36.15 mg·unit-1, approximately 7.7 times higher.

3D hierarchical porous carbon foams as high‐performance free‐standing anodes for microbial fuel cells

AbstractMicrobial fuel cells (MFCs) that can directly convert chemical energy of organic matter into electrical energy are expected to continuously obtain energy from wastewater. However, the practical application of MFCs is still limited by unsatisfactorily low power output due to low bacterial loading capacity and relatively poor extracellular electron transport (EET) efficiency between anode and electrochemically active biofilm. Herein, hierarchical porous carbon foams (HPCFs) prepared by pyrolyzing nanoscale Fe‐MIL‐88B‐NH2 modified seitan composite were developed as 3D free‐standing MFC anodes. Its marcoporous structure and good biocompatibility favor the bacterial adhesion, while the N‐doped carbon skeleton, abundant mesopores and iron ions boost the bacteria‐electrode charge transfer efficiency. As a result, the HPCF anodes equipped MFCs deliver a maximum power density of 11.21 W m−3 and a current density of 23.11 A m−3, outperforming the most previously reported 3D porous anodes. This study provides a new idea for the design of anodes for high‐performance MFCs.image

Porous polymer membrane with uniform lithium-ion transport via phase separation for stable lithium metal batteries

Lithium metal is considered an ideal anode for lithium batteries due to its high theoretical capacity. However, its industrial applications are limited by the fragile solid electrolyte interphase films and the growth of lithium dendrites. Here, we prepared a polyvinylidene fluoride-lithium poly (acrylamide-2-methyl-1-propane-sulfonate) (PVDF-PAMPSLi) polymer membrane with a porous structure by a one-step phase separation method for stabilizing lithium metal anode. Different from the porous PVDF-protected anode and the unprotected anode, the porous PVDF-PAMPSLi membrane can provide a facile lithium-ion transport pathway and improve the lithium-ion diffusion kinetics in the microchannel structure. In symmetric cell tests, the PVDF-PAMPSLi-protected cell delivers stable cycling over 350 h at 2 mA cm−2 and 1 mAh cm−2. At 5 mA cm−2, it can cycle stably for 125 h, and the overpotential is stable at around 50 mV. As for asymmetric Li/Cu cell tests, the PVDF-PAMPSLi-modified Cu electrode delivers high coulombic efficiency (CE) of 97.43% over 265 cycles at 2 mA cm−2. Moreover, the LFP/Li and NCM811/Li half cells using the PVDF-PAMPSLi-coated Li exhibit significantly improved cycling stability and high discharge capacities under lean electrolyte conditions (10 μL mAh−1).

Effect of Ionic Mass Transport on the Performance of a Novel Tubular Direct Carbon Fuel Cell for the Maximal Use of a Carbon-Filled Porous Anode.

Despite a large number of existing studies about direct carbon fuel cells (DCFCs), sufficient power generation has remained a major technical challenge for the commercialization of DCFCs. This study was designed to implement the benefits of a carbon-filled porous anode developed in our recent studies in a unit cell. First, we developed a new tubular cell assembly comprising an anode, a thin matrix, and a tubular cathode with a certain number of holes in its surface. By employing a reference electrode, we measured the resistance and I–V–P characteristics of the anode, a cathode with a single hole, and the entire cell. As a result, we found that the cathode performance was degraded by resistance to ionic mass transfer, while the anode resistance was invariant (∼0.4 Ω cm2). By developing a semi-empirical current–potential model including an ion mass transport effect, we proved that the number of holes in the cathode surface is the key to the maximal utilization of the present anode. This eventually led to notable gains in the maximum power density to 205 mW cm–2 at 700 °C in experiments. Lastly, a durability test was conducted to reconfirm the effect of ionic mass transfer on the power generation over time.

Efficient electrochemical oxidation of COVID-19 treatment drugs favipiravir by a novel flow-through Ti/TiO2-NTA/Ti4O7 anode

In this study, TiO2 nanotube arrays (TiO2-NTA) were used as an intermediate layer to provide effective electrocatalytic activity and stability for Ti/TiO2-NTA/Ti4O7 anode. Compared with Ti/Ti4O7 anode, Ti/TiO2-NTA/Ti4O7 anode exhibited higher oxygen evolution potential (2.40 V), larger active specific surface areas (1.81 m2 g−1), stronger radical generation capacity (64.42 μM), longer accelerated service life (56.0 h), and superior favipiravir removal ratio. The flow-through electrochemical reaction system was constructed by using the porous Ti/TiO2-NTA/Ti4O7 anode. The removal ratio, TOC removal ratio and mineralization current efficiency of favipiravir in the flow-by electrochemical system were significantly improved and the energy consumption was reduced compared with the conventional flow-by electrochemical system, verifying the superiority of the porous flow-through Ti/TiO2-NTA/Ti4O7 anode. The effects of operating parameters on the removal of favipiravir in the flow-through electrochemical reaction system were investigated. The degradation mechanisms of favipiravir are the synergetic effects of the free radical (·OH and SO4−·) and the direct electron transfer. Ti/TiO2-NTA/Ti4O7 anode displayed excellent stability in five consecutive cycles, exhibited significant removal ratio (87.7%) of favipiravir from actual wastewater, and remained efficient and versatile for a wide range of typical PPCPs pollutants. Therefore, Ti/TiO2-NTA/Ti4O7 is a promising porous anode material in the engineering application.

Anodic polarization characteristics in hydrogen and methane oxidations at nickel-cobalt yttria-stabilized zirconia cermet relating to prolonged cell performance stability

The conventional solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anode, which consists of metallic Ni and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), is liable to deactivation when a carbon-containing gaseous fuel is directly supplied. To retard the degradation due to a direct supply of CH4, the Ni/YSZ has been modified with the incorporation of Co into the Ni matrix, forming a substitutional solid-solution alloy. As a result, the porous anode exhibits well-connected compositional grains owing to the Co3O4 precursor as a sintering aid. The 25 mol% Co incorporation producing the Ni0.75Co0.25/YSZ anode significantly improves the cell performance and prolonged stability. In addition, the Ni0.75Co0.25/YSZ anode provides the apparent activation energy of the charge transfer reaction to a lower value in the electrochemical oxidation of CH4 at the triple-phase boundary. However, the apparent activation energy decrease is not identified for H2. The Co alloying effect on catalyzing the electrochemical oxidation of CH4 is caused by suppressing the carbon deposition originating from the thermal dissociation of adsorbed CH4 on the Ni1-xCox alloy surface.

Designing 3D Anode Based on Pore-Size-Dependent Li Deposition Behavior for Reversible Li-Free All-Solid-State Batteries.

Li‐free all‐solid‐state batteries can achieve high energy density and safety. However, separation of the current collector/solid electrolyte interface during Li deposition increases interfacial resistance, which deteriorates safety and reversibility. In this study, a reversible 3D porous anode is designed based on Li deposition behavior that depends on the pore size of the anode. More Li deposits are accommodated within the smaller pores of the Li hosting anode composed of Ni particles with a granular piling structure; this implies the Li movement into the anode is achieved via diffusional Coble creep. Surface modification of Ni with a carbon coating layer and Ag nanoparticles further increases the Li hosting capacity and enables Li deposition without anode/solid electrolyte interface separation. A Li‐free all‐solid‐state full cell with a LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2 cathode shows an areal capacity of 2 mAh cm−2 for retaining a Coulombic efficiency of 99.46% for 100 cycles at 30 °C.

Metallic three-dimensional porous siligraphene as a superior anode material for Li/Na/K-ion batteries

Due to the high specific capacity and low open circuit voltage (OCV), 2D siligraphene has been widely considered as a promising anode material for metal ion batteries (MIBs). Nonetheless, its electrochemical performance is greatly impeded by low mechanical stiffness, poor hopping dynamics and small pore size. Motivated by the great success of 3D carbon materials, we propose a metallic porous 3D-SiC anode using the corresponding 2D tetragonal SiC as a structural unit. By first principles molecular dynamics, mechanical property and phonon spectrum calculations, it is found that 3D-SiC possesses good thermal, mechanical and dynamical stability. The maximum Young’s and bulk moduli of 3D-SiC are 217.16, 400.90 GPa, respectively, exhibiting a moderate mechanical stiffness. More importantly, the intrinsically high electrical conductivity, unique porous structure and low mass density make the 3D-SiC a promising anode candidate for Li/Na/K-ion batteries with small volume changes (6.43 %, 3.75 % and 8.66 %), low diffusion barriers (0.17, 0.19 and 0.017 eV), high storage capacities (947, 947 and 724 mA h/g) and low average OCVs (0.56, 0.34 and 0.11 V). The encouraging results show that siligraphene-based porous 3D anodes are worthy of further investigation for MIBs.

A study of mass transfer characteristics of secondary flows in a tubular solid oxide fuel cell for power density improvement

The low power density has impeded wider adoption of solid oxide fuel cell stacks in powering vehicles and airplanes. The stack power density could be improved by the secondary flow in the radial direction induced by inserts in fuel channels. In this study, we constructed a numerical model to examine the effect of secondary flows on the electrochemical performance of a counter-flow type micro-tubular SOFC with an insert consisting of several humps. We show the secondary flow could enhance the fuel convective mass transfer in the diffusion layer of the porous anode, enabling more fuel to enter the porous anode and more produced steam to leave the reaction layer. This significantly improves the methane reforming and electrochemical reaction rates. We also examined the influence of the geometric parameters of the inserts on the electrochemical performance of the SOFC. We demonstrate that by increasing the insert radius and number of humps, the output power density increases at the expense of higher pumping power requirements. However, the enhanced electrochemical reactions outweigh the demand for pumping power. Our work demonstrates the effectiveness of secondary flows on the SOFC electrochemical performance improvement and helps build a foundation for SOFC channel designs and optimizations. Highlights The effects of secondary flows on the electrochemical reactions are discussed. The secondary flow in radial direction could improve the SOFC power density. The influence of the insert geometric parameters is analyzed.

Quasi-Solid-State Lithium-Sulfur Batteries Assembled by Composite Polymer Electrolyte and Nitrogen Doped Porous Carbon Fiber Composite Cathode

Solid-state lithium sulfur batteries are becoming a breakthrough technology for energy storage systems due to their low cost of sulfur, high energy density and high level of safety. However, its commercial application has been limited by the poor ionic conductivity and sulfur shuttle effect. In this paper, a nitrogen-doped porous carbon fiber (NPCNF) active material was prepared by template method as a sulfur-host of the positive sulfur electrode. The morphology was nano fiber-like and enabled high sulfur content (62.9 wt%). A solid electrolyte membrane (PVDF/LiClO4/LATP) containing polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and lithium aluminum titanium phosphate (Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7(PO4)3) was prepared by pouring and the thermosetting method. The ionic conductivity of PVDF/LiClO4/LATP was 8.07 × 10−5 S cm−1 at 25 °C. The assembled battery showed good electrochemical performance. At 25 °C and 0.5 C, the first discharge specific capacity was 620.52 mAh g−1. After 500 cycles, the capacity decay rate of each cycle was only 0.139%. The synergistic effect between the composite solid electrolyte and the nitrogen-doped porous carbon fiber composite sulfur anode studied in this paper may reveal new approaches for improving the cycling performance of a solid-state lithium-sulfur battery.

Wheat-like Co3O4 on carbon derived from silk as anode materials for enhanced lithium storage

The design and preparation of hierarchical porous transition metal oxide-carbon matrix anodes with unique structure play the significant role in highly reversible lithium ion batteries. Herein, hierarchical porous wheat-like Co3O4 on carbon derived from natural silk (named as SK@Co3O4) nanobelts are fabricated successfully by one-step hydrothermal technique and ensuing high-temperature calcination. The wheat-like SK@Co3O4 nanobelts consist of a number of nanobeams. The length of nanobelts is around 1 µm whereas the diameter is 200 nm. Moreover, the SK@Co3O4 anode for lithium ion batteries retains 1108 mA h g−1 following 100 cycles at 100 mA g−1, 707 mA h g−1 and 709 mA h g−1 after 150 cycles at 2 A g−1, 625 mA h g−1 and 617 mA h g−1 after 150 cycles at 5 A g−1,which show extraordinary cycle stability of the composite. The remarkable lithium storage property results from the hierarchical porous structure and this structure can not only provide a short ion transport path but also raise the area of contact between the electrolyte and electrode.

Metal-organic framework derived zinc and nitrogen co-doped porous carbon materials for high performance zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitors

Zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitors (ZHSCs) have received widespread attention because of their advantages of high power density, long lifetime, low cost and environmental protection, but they restricted to the low energy density mainly caused by low specific capacitance of carbon electrode materials. Herein, we design and utilize a novel method to synthesis of zinc and nitrogen co-doped zinc-based metal-organic framework derived porous carbon (ZMDPC) materials through the binding of two ligands. The obtained carbon materials show excellent electrochemical properties with high specific capacitance and cycling stability due to the zinc and nitrogen co-doping, excellent pore structure and high specific surface area. As a result, ZHSCs assembled by the zinc and nitrogen co-doped porous carbon cathode and zinc metal anode demonstrate an high specific capacitance of 255.6 F g–1, high energy density of 90.88 Wh kg–1, outstanding cycle stability and excellent rate performance. Furthermore, the supercapacitor exhibited a capacity retention of 97.8% after 10,000 cycles at a current density of 10 A g–1. The development provides an attractive route to design porous carbon electrodes based on various two-dimensional nanomaterials.

Super-Assembled Chiral Mesostructured Heteromembranes for Smart and Sensitive Couple-Accelerated Enantioseparation

In the context of sustainable development, chirality, especially chiral drugs, has attracted great interest in the pharmaceutical industry, yet the smart and sensitive separation of enantiomers still presents a major scientific challenge. Herein, inspired by supramolecular templating via chiral transcription nanoparticles, an artificial chiral nanochannel membrane with asymmetric structure, porosity, and abundant chiral surface is fabricated for smart and sensitive enantiomer recognition and separation. Constructed from chiral transcript mesoporous silica (CMS) super-assembled on a porous anode alumina oxide (AAO) support, the obtained heterostructured chiral membrane (CMS/AAO) exhibits enhanced enantioseparation (approximately 170% compared to the supramolecular-templated nanoparticles) among a series of amino acids with various isoelectric points (PIs). Especially for amino acids with a PI greater than 7, the couple-accelerated enantioseparation (CAE) can be achieved for the first time. Further analysis using an osmotic energy conversion test and simulations based on the Poisson-Nernst-Planck (PNP) equations confirm that the heterostructure and charge polarity are the key to achieve chiral amino acids and ion separation. We expect this work will inspire the development of multifunctional membrane systems for more sustainable and energy-efficient enantioseparation.