Abstract

Hygroelectricity is proposed as a means to produce electric power from air by absorbing gaseous or vaporous water molecules, which are ubiquitous in the atmosphere. Here, using a synergy between a hygroscopic bulk graphene oxide with a heterogeneous structure and interface mediation between electrodes/materials with Schottky junctions, we develop a high-performance hygroelectric generator unit with an output voltage approaching 1.5 V. High voltage (e.g., 18 V with 15 units) can be easily reached by simply scaling up the number of hygroelectric generator units in series, enough to drive commercial electronic devices. This work provides insight for the design and development of hygroelectric generators that may promote the efficient conversion of potential energy in the environmental atmosphere to electricity for practical applications.

Details

Title
Interface-mediated hygroelectric generator with an output voltage approaching 1.5 volts
Author
Huang, Yaxin 1 ; Cheng, Huhu 2 ; Yang, Ce 1 ; Zhang, Panpan 1 ; Liao, Qihua 1 ; Houze Yao 2 ; Shi, Gaoquan 3 ; Qu, Liangti 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

1  Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology, Ministry of Education of China, State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, PR China 
2  Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology, Ministry of Education of China, State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, PR China; Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, PR China 
3  Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, PR China 
4  Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology, Ministry of Education of China, State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, PR China; Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, PR China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Photoelectronic/Electrophotonic Conversion Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, PR China 
Pages
1-8
Publication year
2018
Publication date
Oct 2018
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06633-z
ProQuest document ID
2117376566
Copyright
© 2018. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.