Salt water plus graphene equals ecological electricity!
SAN FRANCISCO, Kalifornia (PNN) - April 20, 2014 - Here at DVICE, graphene is kind of a big deal. The element allows for innovation as far reaching as 2D computers, neon buildings with solar paint, and bandages that can help shield from infection. Frankly, it’s almost like the stuff is fictional. Luckily for the human race, it isn’t, and we’ve just discovered something pretty cool: flowing salt water over it generates electricity.
That’s right. The Harry Potter-esque substance can create electricity out of thin air. In fairness, we’ve been using hydroelectricity basically since we knew electricity was a thing. But things like water mills only work when you’ve got an awful lot of water flowing through them, and flowing too much isn’t green since it can screw up the ecosystem of rivers and streams.
Unsurprisingly, researchers have been trying to find a new way to harness hydroelectricity for years. The reigning idea was to push ionic fluids through a pressure gradient. Problem is, pressure gradients aren’t exactly easy to come by, so the process was impractical for creating large amounts of electricity. But as it turns out, if you drag salt water over graphene then you get electricity in return; without the use of a pressure gradient.
When the water is pulled over graphene, its charge becomes unbalanced. The graphene’s electrons are desorbed on one end and reabsorbed on the other end, meaning the graphene generates electricity across itself as the water slides down.
If that’s not exciting enough, researchers also found that the speed with which the salt water was dragged over graphene has a direct impact on how much electricity is generated. The faster the water, the more electricity you get. Using more water also earned more electricity. This is great when you consider something like a river. If you gain electricity without disrupting the river too much, the world of hydroelectricity could become green. Not to mention doing things like covering submarines in graphene and having them swim through the sea, using its environment for power.
At present, these guys are nano-sized, something we haven’t seen in hydroelectricity before. But they can be scaled up to accomplish the aforementioned tasks. So get your electric cars ready. Soon, they might be powered by water.
