Revealing the mechanism of ion gradient enhanced wet generator

Non-renewable resources such as fossil energy are depleted day by day.
The energy crisis and global warming continue to threaten human life.
People are increasingly looking for advanced renewable and sustainable energy technologies, such as new technologies based on triboelectric, piezoelectric and thermoelectric principles.
Developed to convert energy into electrical energy
.

In addition, the ubiquitous seawater on the earth has aroused great interest in energy conversion technology

Recently, the team of Professor Wang Limin and Qin Xiaohong of Donghua University proposed an ion gradient-enhanced wet generator based on nanofiber fabric, which solved the problem of instantaneous and low electrical output
.

The research results were published on "Materials Horizons" with the title "Nanofiber fabric based ion-gradient-enhanced moist-electric generator with a sustained voltage output of 1.

【Ion gradient enhanced wet generator】

Moist-electric generators (MEG) use ion concentration gradients to generate electricity, which can obtain energy from moisture
.

Since the first report by Professor Qu Liangti’s team, a large number of new materials and well-designed structures have gradually appeared

Fig.
1 Schematic diagram of MEG and long-term voltage output
.

[Application of MEG]

In order to explore the performance of ion gradient-enhanced humidification generator, electrospinning was used to prepare PAN/PSSA nanofiber blended fabrics with different ratios
.

Electrospun nanofiber fabric has the advantages of large specific surface area, good flexibility and porous structure, and is one of the best choices for harvesting water

In order to further increase the energy output of the application, the devices can be connected in series or in parallel
.

Figure 2a and Figure 2b show the ion gradient-reinforced MEG based on nanofiber fabric in series and parallel respectively

Figure 4 (a, b) Voltage and current output of PAN/PSSA nanofiber fabric MEG in series (a) and parallel (b)
.

(c) PAN/PSSA nanofiber fabric MEG is used to charge capacitors and power LEDs

In summary, as an emerging new energy collection technology, wet power generation is one of the most attractive and promising candidate technologies to provide renewable and clean energy
.

In this work, the author proposed the use of electrospinning nanofiber fabrics and porous active electrodes to enhance the MEG ion gradient to meet high-efficiency and continuous energy harvesting