Journal
JOULE
Volume 6, Issue 3, Pages 690-701Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2022.02.002
Keywords
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Funding
- National Key Research and Development Programof China [2019YFA0705400]
- Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province [BK20212008]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51535005, 51802153]
- Research Fund of State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control of Mechanical Structures [MCMS-I-0419K01]
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [NJ2020003, NZ2020001]
- Priority Academic ProgramDevelopment of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions
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Evaporation of ethanol can generate sustainable volt-level potential in an environment without streaming potential, offering a new way to harvest environmental energy.
The conversion of ambient heat into electricity through ubiquitous natural evaporation offers hope for new green energy technologies. So far, evaporation-induced electricity has relied mainly on the classical streaming potential, which is an electric potential generated by driving an electrolyte through a narrow channel under a pressure gradient. Here, we show that evaporation of ethanol from nano structured carbon films can produce a sustainable volt-level potential in an environment free from the streaming potential, which we term the evaporating potential. This evaporating potential is proven to occur within a narrow partially wetted region ahead of the main capillary film and is directly generated by carrier transfer driven by evaporation of ethanol molecules. It is also shown that other polar solvents can generate potentials comparable to those induced by ethanol. The finding could open a new way to harvest environmental energy through natural processes.
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