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Generating Electricity from Natural Evaporation Using PVDF Thin Films Incorporating Nanocomposite Materials

Author

Listed:
  • Ariel Ma

    (Iolani School, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA)

  • Jian Yu

    (Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA)

  • William Uspal

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA)

Abstract

Natural evaporation has recently come under consideration as a viable source of renewable energy. Demonstrations of the validity of the concept have been reported for devices incorporating carbon-based nanocomposite materials. In this study, we investigated the possibility of using polymer thin films to generate electricity from natural evaporation. We considered a polymeric system based on polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). Porous PVDF films were created by incorporating a variety of nanocomposite materials into the polymer structure through a simple mixing procedure. Three nanocomposite materials were considered: carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide, and silica. The evaporation-induced electricity generation was confirmed experimentally under various ambient conditions. Among the nanocomposite materials considered, mesoporous silica (SBA-15) was found to outperform the other two materials in terms of open-circuit voltage, and graphene oxide generated the highest short-circuit current. It was found that the nanocomposite material content in the PVDF film plays an important role: on the one hand, if particles are too few in number, the number of channels will be insufficient to support a strong capillary flow; on the other hand, an excessive number of particles will suppress the flow due to excessive water absorption underneath the surface. We show that the device can be modeled as a simple circuit powered by a current source with excellent agreement between the theoretical predictions and experimental data.

Suggested Citation

  • Ariel Ma & Jian Yu & William Uspal, 2021. "Generating Electricity from Natural Evaporation Using PVDF Thin Films Incorporating Nanocomposite Materials," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-14, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:3:p:585-:d:485938
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lidong Zhang & Haoran Liang & Jolly Jacob & Panče Naumov, 2015. "Photogated humidity-driven motility," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-12, November.
    2. Ahmet-Hamdi Cavusoglu & Xi Chen & Pierre Gentine & Ozgur Sahin, 2017. "Potential for natural evaporation as a reliable renewable energy resource," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Xi Chen & Davis Goodnight & Zhenghan Gao & Ahmet H. Cavusoglu & Nina Sabharwal & Michael DeLay & Adam Driks & Ozgur Sahin, 2015. "Scaling up nanoscale water-driven energy conversion into evaporation-driven engines and generators," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-7, November.
    4. John Worden & David Noone & Kevin Bowman, 2007. "Importance of rain evaporation and continental convection in the tropical water cycle," Nature, Nature, vol. 445(7127), pages 528-532, February.
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    1. Fang, Ranran & Luo, Chongfu & Pan, Zhonglin & Li, Junchang & Xu, Fulei & Zheng, Jiangen & Mao, Xuefeng & Wang, Xiaofa & Li, Rui & Wei, Yongbin & Chen, Yijing & Vorobyev, Anatoliy Y., 2024. "Efficient harvesting of renewable evaporative energy from atmospheric air through hierarchical nano/microscale shaping of air-water interface," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).

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