Scientists develop way to extract electricity from air in the United States

The same air we breathe can be a source of clean energy, points out a discovery made by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in the United States.

The study was published by the portal Advanced Materials and, according to reports from research members, the capture of electricity in the air happens due to the presence of humidity, which is a vast reservoir of water and sustainable energy .

The idea starts from the pretext of a cloud, which is a mass formed by water droplets charged with energy, capable of generating electric rays under certain conditions.

The same droplets of water and energy are in the air, and to capture them, scientists have developed a process called “Generic Air Generation Effect” .

For this, small holes, also called nanopores, with diameters of less than 100 nanometers must be constructed.

process operation

As if it were an artificial cloud, the equipment formed by nanopores can be created from almost any type of material. In it, the continuous production of electricity must take place in a controlled and predictable manner.

The “little holes” are up to a thousand times smaller than a human hair, perfectly suited to allow water from the air to pass through and undergo a dynamic exchange of adsorption and desorption, resulting in surface loading.

The water molecules would be moving from one side to the other in the equipment. This reaction generates an imbalance of electrical charges, acting as if it were a battery that remains working as long as there is moisture in the air.

Research members describe the idea as simple but promising because moisture is always in the air. This would solve the problems of other clean energy sources, such as wind or solar, which depend on specific climate conditions (wind, solar radiation) to work.