随着具有离子选择性纳米通道的新型材料的研发，一种获取盐度梯度（蓝色）能量的新技术被提出，即纳米孔发电机（NPG）。在本研究中，我们对膜片尺度和组件尺度的NPG运行的实际性能进行了全面分析。结果表明，虽然NPG 膜片可以在理想条件下产生超高的功率密度，但由于浓度极化效应，实际运行中NPG膜片上产生的功率密度很难达到10 W·m⁻²。对于组件尺度的NPG运行，我们估算了功率密度和可提取比能（即使用单位总体积工作溶液可产生的能量），并基于浓度极化与高浓度溶液和低浓度溶液的混合程度之间的相互作用，阐明运行条件对这两个指标的影响。此外，我们还开发了一个用来评估NPG 系统可行性的模型框架。结果表明，对于使用海水与河水的NPG 系统，总可提取比能非常低（约0.1 kW·h·m⁻³），且受到系统运行能耗的影响（特别是海水和河水溶液的汲取与预处理能耗）。总的来说，NPG系统产生的净可提取比能（< 0.025 kW·h·m⁻³）和净功率密度（< 0.1 W·m⁻²）非常低。我们的研究重点指出了NPG在现实运行中存在极大的局限性，进而对NPG作为一种蓝色能量收集技术的可行性提出了质疑。

The development of novel materials with ion-selective nanochannels has introduced a new technology for harvesting salinity gradient (blue) energy, namely nanopore power generators (NPG). In this study, we perform a comprehensive analysis of the practical performance of NPG in both coupon-size and module-scale operations. We show that although NPG membrane coupons can theoretically generate ultrahigh power density under ideal conditions, the resulting power density in practical operations at a coupon scale can hardly reach 10 W·m⁻² due to concentration polarization effects. For module-scale NPG operation, we estimate both the power density and specific extractable energy (i.e., extractable energy normalized by the total volume of the working solutions), and elucidate the impact of operating conditions on these two metrics based on the interplay between concentration polarization and extent of mixing of the high- and low-concentration solutions. Further, we develop a modeling framework to assess the viability of an NPG system. Our results demonstrate that, for NPG systems working with seawater and river water, the gross specific extractable energy by the NPG system is very low (~0.1 kW·h·m⁻³) and is further compromised by the parasitic energy consumptions in the system (notably, pumping of the seawater and river water solutions and their pretreatment). Overall, NPG systems produce very low net specific extractable energy (< 0.025 kW·h·m⁻³) and net power density (< 0.1 W·m⁻²). Our study highlights the significant practical limitations in NPG operations, casting doubt on the viability of NPG as a technology for blue energy harvesting.