Self-sustained electricity generator driven by the compatible integration of ambient moisture adsorption and evaporation

Abstract

Generating sustainable electricity from ambient humidity and natural evaporation has attracted tremendous interest recently as it requires no extra mechanical energy input and is deployable across all weather and geography conditions. Here, we present a device prototype for enhanced power generation from ambient humidity. This prototype uses both heterogenous materials assembled from a LiCl-loaded cellulon paper to facilitate moisture adsorption and a carbon-black-loaded cellulon paper to promote water evaporation. Exposing such a centimeter-sized device to ambient humidity can produce voltages of around 0.78 V and a current of around 7.5 μA, both of which can be sustained for more than 10 days. The enhanced electric output and durability are due to the continuous water flow that is directed by evaporation through numerous, negatively charged channels within the cellulon papers. The voltage and current exhibit an excellent scaling behavior upon device integration to sufficiently power commercial devices including even cell phones. The results open a promising prospect of sustainable electricity generation based on a synergy between spontaneous moisture adsorption and water evaporation.

Nanochannel-dependent power generation performance of NiAl-LDH/SiO2-based generators driven by natural water evaporation

“…In general, the electrical output originates from the ow potential. 40,41 When water passes through the charged and narrow nanochannel, EDL overlapping effects make counterions pass and form a ow potential. The length of EDL overlapping is equal to the Debye length (k D −1 ).…”

Synergistic Solar‐Driven Freshwater Generation and Electricity Output Empowered by Wafer‐Scale Nanostructured Silicon

“…Based on our best knowledge, this current level is the highest continuous current that can be generated by a single HG device (Figure 5e). [7,8,11,18,[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50] Figure 5b shows the V oc of 0.81 V for more than 8 h, which demonstrates the long-time durability of SiNWs-based HG. The V oc can reach ≈1.6, ≈2.4, and ≈3.2 V when two, three, and four single units are in-serial connected (Figure 5d).…”

Humidity-Tolerant Moisture-Driven Energy Generator with MXene Aerogel–Organohydrogel Bilayer

“…1−5 The preferential electrokinetic interaction in a MEG occurs during directional moisture evaporation, which spatially dissociates the attractive charges on the surface from the unbound counter-charges, thereby giving rise to the characteristic built-in charge potential. 6,7 As a pioneering work, Ghosh et al observed an output voltage between two electrodes placed on carbon nanotubes when water flowed through the nanotube network. 8 Numerous efforts have been made to further facilitate the preferential charge separation in a MEG by developing materials with various surface functional groups, 9,10 high surface area, 11 and high conductivity.…”

“…Considering the preferential interaction of ions from either moisture or water with various hydrophilic materials, as well as the ion-selective functional groups exposed to the surface on such materials, moisture-driven energy generators (MEGs) are a promising technology for next-generation energy conversion. − The preferential electrokinetic interaction in a MEG occurs during directional moisture evaporation, which spatially dissociates the attractive charges on the surface from the unbound counter-charges, thereby giving rise to the characteristic built-in charge potential. , As a pioneering work, Ghosh et al observed an output voltage between two electrodes placed on carbon nanotubes when water flowed through the nanotube network . Numerous efforts have been made to further facilitate the preferential charge separation in a MEG by developing materials with various surface functional groups, , high surface area, and high conductivity .…”