Harvesting Energy from Changes in Relative Humidity Using Nanoscale Water Capillary Bridges

Abstract

We show that nanoscale water capillary bridges (WCB) formed between patchy surfaces can extract energy from the environment when subjected to changes in relative humidity (RH). Our results are based on molecular dynamics simulations combined with a modified version of the Laplace–Kelvin equation, which is validated using the nanoscale WCB. The calculated energy density harvested by the nanoscale WCB is relevant, ≈1700 kJ/m3, and is comparable to the energy densities harvested using available water-responsive materials that expand and contract due to changes in RH.