2023-05-31 03:49:44
One of the constant scientific searches of the human being is the generation of energy without a considerable expense of materials or contamination. Recently, a group of engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst made a breakthrough in the field of electricity, a clean way of harvesting ambient electrical currents using a new material they created from living microorganisms.
The researchers in charge of the development of this material state that any porous material that meets the specifications can be used to take advantage of the energy that is generated in the air from its humidity, this material must be manufactured from bacteria and with a nanoporous finish. , with pores of at least 100 nanometers in diameter, as mentioned by Jun Yao, who is one of the authors of the article published in the journal Advanced Materials. Efecto Air-gen.
In 2020, this same author, Yao and his colleague Derek Lovley, discovered the fascinating uses that the Geobater sulfurreducens bacterium can have, with which the electricity generated by the humidity in the air can be stored, from a porous material in the shape of a nanowires made from this same bacterium.
In Yao’s words, with the discovery of this microorganism and its ability to conduct electricity, came the discovery of its ability to generate energy with the air, which was called the Air-gen Effect.
With their most recent studies, they realized that in reality this effect of harvesting energy occurs in any material made with the appropriate characteristics, which are that its composition is based on living microorganisms and that the material has pores of at least 100 nanometers. .
Mean free path When a natural cloud of water precipitates, there is a space between one water molecule and another before they collide with each other creating a charge of energy, which together create what we know as lightning, a this is called the mean free path.
The Air-gen or “air generator” in Spanish, seeks to recreate the same function of the mean free path, by applying a significant amount of water molecules on the porous surface of the material.
And since the molecules at the bottom of the air generator are not charged in the same way, it would create energy charge instability, which is the main cause to start a flow of electrical charge.
This is a significant step for the use of electrical energy as we know it. This energy harvester can be used constantly 24/7, however it is sunny, cloudy, rainy, night, windy, or any kind of weather. In the not so distant future, it may be the main tool for the use of electricity without generating pollution. Undoubtedly an invention with the potential to change the world as we live it.
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