Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: SF Chinese (ID:kexuejiaodian), author: SF

Use air to generate electricity? You heard me. Recently, researchers have found a way to collect electricity from the air using almost any material.

(by Chen Qiang / tr. by Robert Taylor)

Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst have made a startling study: almost any material can be used to make a device that continuously collects electricity from moist air if one condition is met. This condition is that there are many nano-pores less than 100 nanometers in diameter on the surface of the material. It seems magical, but the principle is much simpler than expected.

There is electricity in the air? There is a lot of electricity in the air. You only need to look up at the clouds in the sky to understand. A cloud is actually made up of a large number of small water droplets, each of which has an electric charge. When conditions are right, clouds can release a large amount of electricity in the form of lightning. Unfortunately, we don't have a reliable way to collect this electricity.

So what happens to making a controllable cloud? In 2020, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst created a small artificial cloud that can generate electricity controllably and continuously. To collect electricity, they developed an energy collection device made of protein nanowires grown by bacteria called Geobacter sulfurreducens.

After completing the study, the researchers immediately realized that bacteria were not necessary. They found that almost any material can be used to collect electricity from the air, as long as they have nanopores less than 100 nanometers in diameter. Therefore, they call this technology the "universal air generation effect" (generic Air-gen effect). The researchers published details of the technology in the May 2023 issue of the journal Advanced Materials. So how on earth did they implement this technology?

The energy collection device for this technology, which is the key to power generation, is made of a thin film filled with nanopores that allow water molecules in the air to pass from the upper layer of the film to the lower layer. But because each hole is very small, it is easy for water molecules to hit the edge of the hole as they pass through the film. When colliding, the charge of the water molecule is transferred to the film and accumulates. Because the upper layer is more vulnerable to the impact of water molecules than the lower layer, there is a charge difference between the two sides of the film. Using this charge difference to make electrons flow and form an electric current, electricity can be generated. This is a kind of green and clean energy, its source is only moist air.

At present, the technology is still in its early stages. The thin film made of cellulose tested by the researchers produced a voltage output of about 260 millivolts in the experiment, while it usually takes about 5 volts to charge a mobile phone in daily life. But the thickness of the films is much smaller than the width of a human hair, which means they can be easily stacked to produce a higher voltage output, making it more practical.

The researchers say that because the film can be made of almost any material, it means that the best material can be selected according to the environment. For example, you can imagine that an energy collection device made of one material is suitable for tropical rainforest environments, and an energy collection device made of another material is suitable for drier environments. Next, the researchers will test these energy collection devices in different environments and try to improve their power output.

References:

Https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202300748

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