Turning humid air into renewable power

[AE-NMidlands]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... able-power

“To be frank, it was an accident,” says the study’s lead author, Prof Jun Yao. “We were actually interested in making a simple sensor for humidity in the air. But for whatever reason, the student who was working on that forgot to plug in the power.”

The UMass Amherst team were surprised to find that the device, which comprised an array of microscopic tubes, or nanowires, was producing an electrical signal regardless.

Each nanowire was less than one-thousandth the diameter of a human hair, wide enough that an airborne water molecule could enter, but so narrow it would bump around inside the tube. Each bump, the team realised, lent the material a small charge, and as the frequency of bumps increased, one end of the tube became differently charged from the other.

“So it’s really like a battery,” says Yao. “You have a positive pull and a negative pull, and when you connect them the charge is going to flow.”

Intriguing.

[Mr Gus]

Likely fine for much of america with humidity levels being through the roof, but over here? ..i'd like to see more detail of its current prototype limitations for more context.

[Andy]

Light a small fire with a pan of water on it in a small room. Sorted!

[Mr Gus]

I know you are joking but the idea of powering up and running a humidifier (or whatever) to grab a micro-gobbet of energy fills me with despair that a new generation of infinite free energy perpetual motion machines arising ..if there is a machines uprising they'll all conk out on a dew soaked british lawn flashing low battery warning lights