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Free Energy from Moisture in the Air
02/20/2020 9:02 PM
"Electrical engineers and microbiologists have created a device they call an 'Air-gen' or air-powered generator, with electrically conductive protein nanowires produced by the microbe Geobacter. The Air-gen connects electrodes to the protein nanowires in such a way that electrical current is generated from the water vapor naturally present in the atmosphere."
"The devices produce a sustained voltage of around 0.5 volts across a 7-micrometre-thick film, with a current density of around 17 microamperes per square centimetre. We find the driving force behind this energy generation to be a self-maintained moisture gradient that forms within the film when the film is exposed to the humidity that is naturally present in air."
I have a lot of questions. How is this possible? Not that it is a lot of energy (8.5 μW / cm2), but where does this energy come from. If this device absorbs moisture, where does the moisture go? If it operates continuously, the moisture has to go somewhere. (The only way I can see it could work is if the humidity changed up and down and current flowed both directions.)
"There are a million microamperes in a watt" is sheer nonsense. If nothing else, a million microamperes is just one ampere, which means nothing until voltage is specified. Good grief, who comes up with this crap?
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If this is real, my WAG is that this protein somehow uses Brownian motion energy (aka thermal energy) and dipole moment of water to move electrons. 8.5 microwatts per square centimeter is not a lot of power so it can be very difficult to ascertain where this power actually originates. This is so small of an amount of power I'd like to know how they prevented parasitic coupling with the power grid to permit this claim.
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"Don't disturb my circles." translation of Archimedes last words
So the whole blerb does not specify the humidity at which the electricity is generated.
What about in desert air where the daytime humidity falls to single figures, does it still function then or do the nanowires dry out and break and what happens with high humidities? Like all these Flummery discoveries they are short on detail.
I'm a bit skeptical. Unless I'm missing something, to extract power, something has to change in the environment. If it extracts water vapor from the atmosphere, that water has to end up somewhere, so how can it operate continuously. The water vapor has to combine with something to produce power, and when that something gets used up, it won't work anymore.
It's occurred to me that maybe the water vapor is incidental, that the minute amount of power produced (17 μW/cm2) comes from the ambient light. If it's made of bacteria, the water vapor may be incorporated as the bacteria grows. (Just a guess.)
New droplet-based electricity generator: A drop of water generates 140V power, lighting up 100 LED bulbs
City University of Hong Kong. "New droplet-based electricity generator: A drop of water generates 140V power, lighting up 100 LED bulbs." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 5 February 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200205132354.htm>.
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Free Energy from Moisture in the Air
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