Researchers invent self-charging, ultra-thin device that generates electricity from air moisture



Imagine being able to use commonplace objects like sea salt and a piece of cloth to capture moisture in the air around you in order to generate electricity, or even power commonplace gadgets with a non-toxic battery that is as thin as paper. A new moisture-driven electricity generation (MEG) device has been created by a team of researchers from the College of Design and Engineering (CDE) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). It is made of a thin fabric layer that is about 0.3 millimeters (mm) thick, sea salt, carbon ink, and a unique water-absorbing gel.

The foundation of MEG technology is the capacity of various materials to produce electricity through their interaction with atmospheric moisture. Due to the potential for a wide range of practical applications, such as self-powered gadgets like wearable electronics like health monitors, electronic skin sensors, and information storage devices, this field has been attracting increasing interest.

Two major issues with existing MEG technologies are the device becoming saturated with water when exposed to ambient humidity and subpar electrical performance. As a result, traditional MEG devices do not produce enough electricity to sustainably power electrical equipment.

To address these issues, a research team from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering within CDE developed a novel MEG device with two regions of different properties that continuously maintain a difference in water content across the regions to generate electricity and enable electrical output for hundreds of hours. The research team was led by Assistant Professor Tan Swee Ching.

On May 26, 2022, the scientific journal Advanced Materials released a print version of this technological advancement.

The carbon nanoparticle-coated fabric layer that makes up the NUS team's MEG gadget is quite thin. The scientists employed a commercially available fabric comprised of polyester and wood pulp for their study.

The wet zone refers to the area of the cloth that is coated with a hygroscopic ionic hydrogel. The unique water-absorbing gel, which is created from sea salt, can absorb more than six times its initial weight and is used to draw moisture from the atmosphere.

Due to its non-toxic qualities and ability to offer a sustainable solution for desalination plants to dispose of the generated sea salt and brine, Asst Prof Tan explained that sea salt was chosen as the water-absorbing compound.

The dry end of the fabric, which is its opposite, is devoid of the hygroscopic ionic hydrogel layer. In order to keep this area dry and keep water in the wet area, this is being done.

After the MEG device has been put together, electricity is produced when the sea salt's ions are split apart as water is absorbed in the wet area. The negatively charged carbon nanoparticles absorb free ions with a positive charge (cations). An electric field is created throughout the fabric as a result of changes to its surface. The cloth can store electricity for later use thanks to these modifications to the surface.

Researchers from NUS were able to maintain high water content in the wet zone and low water content in the dry region by using a novel design of wet-dry regions. Even when the wet area is completely submerged in water, this will maintain electrical production. Water was still present in the wet area after 30 days in an open, humid environment, proving the device's capability to sustain electrical output.

According to Asst. Prof. Tan, "With this special asymmetric structure, the electric performance of our MEG device is greatly increased compared with past MEG technologies, making it possible to power various common electronic devices, such as wearable electronics and health monitors.

The MEG gadget created by the team also shown remarkable flexibility and could sustain pressure from twisting, rolling, and bending. The fabric was folded into an origami crane by the researchers to demonstrate the fabric's remarkable flexibility, which did not compromise the device's overall electrical performance.

The MEG device's simplicity in scaling and readily accessible raw materials allow for quick applications. One of the most urgent uses is enabling mobile devices to be powered directly by ambient humidity as a portable power source.

One 1.5 by 2 centimeter piece of power-generating cloth, after water absorption, may provide up to 0.7 volts (V) of electricity for more than 150 hours in a stable atmosphere, according to research team member Dr. Zhang Yaoxin.

The NUS team has also successfully shown how its novel technology can be scaled up to generate electricity for various uses. The NUS team assembled three sections of the cloth that generates power and put them in a 3D printed box the size of an AA battery. The voltage of the completed gadget was tested and found to be as high as 1.96V, which is sufficient to power small electronic devices like an alarm clock and higher than the 1.5V of a typical AA battery.

The MEG device is suited for mass manufacturing due to the NUS invention's scalability, the ease with which commercially available raw materials can be obtained, and the low fabrication cost of roughly S$0.15 per square meter.

"Our product has a low cost of fabrication and high scalability. Our idea is more straightforward and suitable for scaling-up integrations and connections than current MEG architectures and devices. We think it has enormous commercial potential "Asst. Prof. Tan said.

The researchers intend to investigate potential commercialization options for practical applications after filing a patent application for the invention.

National University of Singapore

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