‘It was an accident’: the scientists who have turned humid air into electricity | Hacker News Reader

‘It was an accident’: the scientists who have turned humid air into electricity

theguardian.com

25 pointszeristor9 comments

On a $/per-watt basis, I suspect won't ever be able to compete with solar, but as an indirect means of capturing solar energy, this seems interesting. One of the downsides of solar is that you need to clear out foliage so the array can receive sun-light. But if you can run something like this in the humid understory, i.e. without having to cut down trees, that seems like a potential real win.

Heck, that’s a bad article even for the already low standards of The Guardian. Could someone explain what this technology actually is about and if it is serious?

I'm very skeptical. IIRC they harvest the small charge that is in some water molecules/droplets in the air, but it does make too much sense. (Perhaps I'm misremembering, perhaps I didn't understand, perhaps it makes no sense.)

The biggest previous discussion I found is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36112815 (95 points | 34 days ago | 94 comments)

Something like: using a board with nano sized holes, water's electrons fit through the holes and an imbalance is created. Something like solar panels p and n junctions with the air's moisture. Wish I could explain it better, just skimmed an article.

Is there a reason we can’t submerge them and make more electricity?

Total speculation but perhaps gravity of the air's moisture may be at play?

"The invention involves two electrodes and a thin layer of material, which must be covered with tiny holes less than 100 nanometers in diameter—thinner than one-thousandth the width of a human hair, according to a statement from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where the researchers work.

As water molecules pass through the device, from an upper chamber to a lower chamber, they knock against the tiny holes’ edges, creating an electric charge imbalance between the layered chambers. In effect, it makes the device run like a battery. The whole process resembles the way clouds make electricity, which we see in the form of lightning bolts." https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-new-device-ge...

So ... it transform air movement into electricity? Like a wind turbine? Does it absorb the humidity?

Can it be used in a closed circle recirculating the air with a fan? (obviously this will produce less electricity than the used to move the fan.)

Presumably water has to be in gaseous form for this to work... gases being more kinetically energetic than liquids.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com