Scientists have found that several materials can be used to convert the energy contained in air moisture into electricity, in a discovery that could lead to the production of clean energy continuously with little pollution, according to a report published in the newspaper “Washington Post“, Friday.
The new study, published in the journal Advanced Materials, that energy can be drawn from moisture in the air using substances acquired from bacteria. It turns out that almost any material, such as wood or silicone, can be used as long as it can be converted into tiny particles and reshaped using microscopic pores.
“What we’ve invented, you can imagine it like a tiny man-made cloud,” said Jun Yao, a professor of engineering at the University of Massachusetts and lead author of the study. “It’s really a massive, easy source of clean electricity that’s constantly on. Imagine having clean electricity available wherever you go.”
“A wind-powered generator, otherwise known as an air generator, provides continuous clean electricity, because it uses energy from moisture, which is always present, rather than relying on the sun or wind. And unlike solar panels or wind turbines, which need specific environments to operate,” Yao added. Wind generators can operate anywhere.”
However, he explained, lower humidity means less energy can be obtained. Winter, with its dry air, produces less energy than summer.
The device is about the size of a fingernail and thinner than a single hair, and contains tiny holes known as “nanopores”. The holes are less than 100 nanometers in diameter, or less than a thousandth the diameter of a human hair.
The tiny holes allow moisture in the air to pass through in a way that unbalances the charge in the top and bottom parts of the device, resulting in a battery that works continuously.
While only one prototype of the device produces a small amount of power, roughly enough to power a point of light on a large screen, given its size, Yao said the air generators can be stacked on top of each other, with voids of air between them. He added that storing electricity is a separate issue.
Yao estimated that about a billion wind generators, stacked to be about the size of a refrigerator, could produce kilowatts and partially power a home under ideal conditions. The team hopes to reduce the number of devices required and the space they take up by making the generators more efficient, and doing so can be challenging, according to the paper.
