Elastic contribution of polymeric fluids augments salinity-gradient-induced electric potential across a microfluidic channel.

Hypothesis: Harnessing electrical energy from salinity gradients, particularly for powering micro and nanoscale devices, has become a focal point of recent research attention, due to its renewable and biocompatible nature. Much of the reported research in that direction revolves around optimizing the membrane architecture and the charge distribution to maximize the induced electric potential, with no particular emphasis on the fluid rheology. However, many of the modern miniature systems, typically the bio-inspired ones, concern fluids with complex rheological characteristics, where the results for Newtonian solvents may not trivially apply.