In a serendipitous turn of events, scientists have stumbled upon a breakthrough that holds the potential to revolutionize the realm of renewable energy.
Harnessing the latent energy within humid air, researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst have discovered an innovative method for producing sustainable electricity.
Professor Jun Yao, the study's lead author, said that a sensor, featuring protein nanowires cultivated from Geobacter, emitted a small electrical signal—even though a student had forgotten to plug in the power.
A PhD student in Professor Yao's lab saw that when the nanowires made contact with electrodes in a specific configuration, they generated a current. Notably, exposure to atmospheric humidity emerged as a requisite, as the protein nanowires absorbed water, leading to a voltage gradient across the device.
"The air contains an enormous amount of electricity. Think of a cloud, which is nothing more than a mass of water droplets. Each of those droplets contains a charge, and when conditions are right, the cloud can produce a lightning bolt—but we don't know how to reliably capture electricity from lightning. What we've done is to create a human-built, small-scale cloud that produces electricity for us predictably and continuously so that we can harvest it."
Yao's team discovered that any material has the ability to harness electricity from the air as long as it features a particular attribute: holes smaller than 100 nanometers, or less than the thousandth of the width of human hair.
Presently, scientists are conducting experiments with novel harvesters constructed from materials containing nanopores smaller than 100 nm. The latest device developed measures around one-fifth the width of a human hair, sufficient to illuminate a single pixel on a sizeable LED screen. Yet, Yao asserts that these devices can be stacked atop each other to amplify power generation.
With humidity pervading constantly, the harvester operates ceaselessly, unaffected by factors such as rain, sunlight availability, or wind conditions. This addresses a significant limitation of technologies like wind or solar, which operate only under specific conditions.
While this discovery instills excitement, it is imperative to acknowledge that extensive further research and development are indispensable before large-scale implementation becomes viable. Scientists are diligently refining materials, enhancing efficiency, and exploring potential applications across diverse environments.
Source: Wiley Online Library [date accessed: 13 Jun 2023]
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