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Moisture electricity generation: Mechanisms, structures, and applications

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Abstract

With the increasing concern of energy crisis and global warming, the whole globe is in an urgent need to develop clean energy that comes from renewable sources and does not harm the environment to fulfill the carbon neutralization and green earth commitments. Water is the most abundant substance on earth and has been historically used as the major energy carriers in watermill, water wheel, and hydroelectricity. Moisture electricity generation is another emerging technology that can convert low-grade energy in the widely-accessible moisture to electricity simply by the integration of moisture, electrodes, and deliberately-designed hygroscopic films. Recent research on moisture electricity generators (MEGs) led to the creation of a series of self-powered sensors and in some occasions they have replaced conventional batteries to power miniaturized devices. In this review, the basic mechanisms of MEGs are firstly clarified, and three categories of them, i.e., gradient structure, homogeneous structure, and heterogeneous structure depending on the structure of hygroscopic films, are then introduced. Furthermore, recent advances in the fabrication, characteristics, and performance of MEGs are summarized, and MEGs with continuous or transient output that could be applied in self-powered sensors and power sources are discussed. Finally, some remaining challenges and our perspectives on MEGs are highlighted.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2022YFB4602401), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52075071 and 52105174), Opening Project of the Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering (Ministry of Education), Jilin University (No. KF20200002), and Key Laboratory of Icing and Anti/De-icing of CARDC (No. IADL 20210405).

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  1. Key Laboratory for Precision and Non-Traditional Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Quanmao Wei, Wenna Ge, Zichao Yuan, Shixu Wang, Chenguang Lu, Shile Feng, Lei Zhao & Yahua Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Icing and Anti/De-icing, China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center, Mianyang, 621000, China

    Yahua Liu

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  1. Quanmao Wei
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  2. Wenna Ge
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  7. Lei Zhao
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Correspondence to Lei Zhao or Yahua Liu.

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Wei, Q., Ge, W., Yuan, Z. et al. Moisture electricity generation: Mechanisms, structures, and applications. Nano Res. 16, 7496–7510 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5465-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5465-9

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