HARVESTING ELECTRICITY FROM THE AIR—BEN FRANKLIN, NICOLA TESLA, THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY, AND THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, AMHERST PART 2

YESTERDAY IN “HARVESTING ETC. ETC, PART 1”, Franklin fooled with a kite, Telsa fooled with giant arcs. Both preceded recent research about deriving renewable electric power from the air itself. More precisely, from the moisture in the air. Tidbits follow. 

EU’s CATCHER Project. Michael Allen gives details in “Realising a Century-old Dream to Make Electricity from Air,” in Horizon: The EU Research & Innovation Magazine, December 12, 2022: “Andriy Lyubchyk,” Allen writes, “is a partner in the CATCHER project, which aims to expand a clean-energy mix by perfecting the conversion of atmospheric humidity into electricity.”

The CATCHER project is funded under the EIC (European Innovation Council) to the tune of nearly €3 million. It’s coordinated by Portugal’s Cofac Cooperativa de Formacao e Animaco Cultural CRL.

Allen describes: “The project uses panel-like cells made from zirconium oxide—a hard crystalline material—to capture energy from atmospheric humidity.” 

A Family Affair. “When exploring the properties of nanomaterials made from zirconium oxide seven years ago,” Allen recounts, “researchers started to see evidence of hygroelectricity, according to Svitlana Lyubchik, who coordinates CATCHER and is the mother of Andriy Lyubchyk. Like him, she is a chemical engineer at Lusophone University. They undertook various initiatives to try to exploit this potential.”

Hygroelectric Operation. Allen writes, “The cells are created by producing very small, uniform nanoparticles of zirconium oxide and then compressing them into a sheet of material with a similar structure throughout including a series of channels, or capillaries. The nanostructure generates electrical fields inside the capillaries that separate the charge from water molecules absorbed from the atmosphere, according to Andriy Lyubchyk. The result is a cascade of physicochemical, physical and electrophysical processes that capture the electrical energy.”

“In one respect,” Allen notes, “the new technology will have an advantage over solar and wind energy. While panels and turbines have to be positioned to capture sunlight and wind, hygroelectricity cells need no particular placement because little variation exists in local humidity levels.”

Of course, hygroelectric technology requires a certain level of humidity to function. And the matter of humidity at freezing temperature is a subtle one related to the triple point of water. I suspect hygroelectricity would work better in Atlanta than Antarctica.

State of the Art, 2022: Allen reports, “The researchers are now at the point where an 8-by-5-centimetre plate of their material can generate around 0.9 volt in a laboratory with a humidity of around 50%. This is comparable to the power output of half an AA battery.”

Allen continues, “Working to make its hygroelectricity material more efficient, the team expects that, once perfected, the cells will be able to harvest the same amount of electricity as similar-sized photovoltaic cells. The researchers also believe that the cells will be deployed in a similar way to solar panels—either as large-scale electricity farms or as a power source for individual buildings.” 

Meanwhile, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Rebekah Brandes describes “Engineers Harvest Clean, Continuous Energy from Air,” at Nice News, June 7, 2023: “There’s electricity in the air over at the University of Massachusetts Amherst—both the literal and metaphorical varieties.”

Brandes reports, “A team of engineers at the institution have discovered a method of successfully harvesting energy from air humidity in a predictable and continuous manner, and they say the technology can be scaled up and applied broadly. They published their findings last month in the journal Advanced Materials.”

How Nanotechnology Promotes Hygroelectricity. Brandes writes, “The key to the breakthrough? It’s all about the nanopores, which are exactly what they sound like: extremely tiny pores. The team engineered a harvester made from a thin layer of material filled with nanopores that are smaller than 100 nanometers in diameter, or ‘less than a thousandth of the width of a human hair,’ per co-author Jun Yao, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.” 

This,” Brandes says, “in turn creates a charge-imbalance: basically, a battery.” What a straightforward yet elegant description. ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2023