Scientists have created a power generator that uses atmospheric humidity and polyoxometalates to produce continuous electricity, offering a sustainable way to utilize low-value energy.

  • TheOneCurly@lemmy.theonecurly.page
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    1 year ago

    I’m not sure I understand, are they stealing the latent vaporization energy by forcing the water vapor to condense?

    They form a distribution gradient of water which is the structural basis of power generation.

    This is either a nonsense sentence or I’m too much of a layperson to understand how any of these words describe the mechanism.

    • wildncrazyguy@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Sounds to me like it’s the opposite of how an LED works. Instead of creating a small gap that discharges a photon, the material creates a small gap that collects an ion. The ion is then run downstream to the thing that is being powered, making the gap available for another ion.

      In other words, it kinda works the same as clouds do to create lightning, the material just facilitates this in a way that can be reliably consumed and at a much, much lower energy scale.