'The air contains an enormous amount of electricity.'
into what they call the "Air-gen effect." The basic idea? Growing conducive nanofilms out of bacteria that can pull small amounts of electricity from the water vapor in the air.
"The air contains an enormous amount of electricity," Yao said in the school's statement. "Think of a cloud, which is nothing more than a mass of water droplets. Each of those droplets contains a charge, and when conditions are right, the cloud can produce a lightning bolt—but we don’t know how to reliably capture electricity from lightning.
"What we realized after making the Geobacter discovery," Yao said, "is that the ability to generate electricity from the air... turns out to be generic: literally any kind of material can harvest electricity from air, as long as it has a certain property." That property, the research update notes, is what's known as the "mean free path" or distance between molecules. In the case of water molecules suspended in air, that distance is 100 nanometers, or a tiny fraction of the width of a human hair.
So long as the film has those tiny perforations, his team says, the material seems to be irrelevant. Though the team is mostly focused on generating minuscule amounts of electricity for wearable devices right now — already raising interesting new possibilities for consumer tech — the real question is likely to be how far the phenomenon can scale.
Argentina Últimas Noticias, Argentina Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
Scientists Find a Way to Harvest Clean Energy From Nothing But AirEngineers have demonstrated something marvelous.
Leer más »
Scientists figure out how to make electricity from thin airUsing a device peppered with minute pores, researchers have found a way to harvest the electricity of water molecules in the air.
Leer más »
California Unlikely to Run Short of Electricity This Summer Thanks to Storms, New Power SourcesCalifornia regulators say the state is unlikely to run short of electricity this summer, thanks to new power sources and a wet winter that filled reservoirs to restart hydroelectric power plants shuttered during the drought.
Leer más »
California unlikely to run short of electricity this summer thanks to storms, new power sourcesCalifornia is unlikely to run short of electricity this summer, thanks to new power sources and a wet winter that filled reservoirs to restart hydroelectric power plants shuttered during the drought.
Leer más »
California breaks record for renewable electricityNewsom cheers plans new battery factory on Richmond waterfront, as hydropower boost reduces risk of summer shortfalls
Leer más »
California unlikely to run short of electricity this summer thanks to storms, new power sourcesCalifornia regulators say the state is unlikely to experience electricity shortages this summer after securing new power sources and a wet winter that filled the state’s reservoirs enough to restart hydroelectric power plants that were dormant during the drought.
Leer más »