Air-gen effect energy from thin air

Nikola Tesla’s vision of the atmosphere as an enormous battery is set to be realised on a microscopic scale using humidity in the air


HYDROLOGIC CYCLE 
Earth’s largest energy carrier, regulator and balancer

Evaporation
Liquid transforms into gas

H2O

Condensation
Gas precipitates as liquid

Hydrologic energy exchange ~60,000 TWh per year

Global electricity demand ~28,500 TWh per year

Atmospheric water vapour


Mean free path
Distance single molecule of water travels in air before bumping into another

Electricity-generating material: Almost any material with pores of 100nm or less

Thickness – 20,000nm, 1/5 width of human hair

Molecules bump into upper layer creating charge imbalance from top to bottom, like thunderclouds

When water molecules are suspended in air, mean free path is about 100 nanometres. Each molecule has charge

Upper electrode
100nm pores

Lower electrode

Can be stacked for greater output


Sources: Advanced Materials, UMASS, Nature
Picture: Getty Images
© GRAPHIC NEWS