Moisture‐Enabled Electricity from Hygroscopic Materials: A New Type of Clean Energy

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) 2024-03, Vol.36 (12), p.e2209661-n/a
• Main Authors: Xu, Tong, Ding, Xiaoteng, Cheng, Huhu, Han, Gaoyi, Qu, Liangti
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Charge materials; Clean energy; Electricity; Energy conversion; hygroelectricity; hygroscopic materials; Moisture; moist‐electric generation; Water consumption
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202209661

Water utilization is accompanied with the development of human beings, whereas gaseous moisture is usually regarded as an underexploited resource. The advances of highly efficient hygroscopic materials endow atmospheric water harvesting as an intriguing solution to convert moisture into clean water. The discovery of hygroelectricity, which refers to the charge buildup at a material surface dependent on humidity, and the following moisture‐enabled electric generation (MEG) realizes energy conversion and directly outputs electricity. Much progress has been made since then to optimize MEG performance, pushing forward the applications of MEG into a practical level. Herein, the evolvement and development of MEG are systematically summarized in a chronological order. The optimization strategies of MEG are discussed and comprehensively evaluated. Then, the latest applications of MEG are presented, including high‐performance powering units and self‐powered devices. In the end, a perspective on the future development of MEG is given for inspiring more researchers into this promising area. Moisture‐enabled electric generation (MEG) has been attracting much attention over the past few years due to the merits of simple device structure and outstanding electric performance, as well as the green‐energy feature. The evolvement and development of MEG are summarized in a chronological order. The mechanism of MEG, optimization strategies, and promising applications are reviewed and discussed in detail.