Interfacial ion-electron conversion enhanced moisture energy harvester

Abstract Harvesting energy from the surrounding environment holds great promise for meeting decentralized energy demands and facilitating the transition to a low-carbon economy. Ubiquitous moisture in the air offers a natural energy reservoir, but very little has yet been harnessed. Conventional moi...

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Main Authors: Puying Li, Yajie Hu, Haiyan Wang, Tiancheng He, Huhu Cheng, Liangti Qu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61913-9
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author Puying Li
Yajie Hu
Haiyan Wang
Tiancheng He
Huhu Cheng
Liangti Qu
author_facet Puying Li
Yajie Hu
Haiyan Wang
Tiancheng He
Huhu Cheng
Liangti Qu
author_sort Puying Li
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Harvesting energy from the surrounding environment holds great promise for meeting decentralized energy demands and facilitating the transition to a low-carbon economy. Ubiquitous moisture in the air offers a natural energy reservoir, but very little has yet been harnessed. Conventional moisture-electricity generators collect moisture energy through the directional migration of ions in the moisture-sorption functional materials induced by a moisture field. However, the unsatisfactory output performance severely limits their practical implementation. Herein, we develop an ion-electron conversion enhanced moisture energy harvester (i-eMEH) by creating an ion-enriched storage interface and concurrently inducing a faradic process through the dual redox couples in the functional layer/electrode interfaces. The i-eMEH reaches a record-high peak current of 9.2 mA cm−2 and power density of 6.7 W m−2, ~60 times higher than those of reported moisture-electricity generators, and approaching the output level of perovskite solar cells and thermoelectric devices. The output rises to hundreds of milliamperes and tens of volts through the device enlargement and integration, thus efficiently charging the capacitor (4F) and commercial lithium battery. This moisture energy harvester manifests the great potential for miniaturized flexible electronics and presents a crucial step towards practical applications of moisture energy harvest.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2041-1723
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publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
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series Nature Communications
spelling doaj-art-60b6033eae544ba6a8e4e05efef3f86f2025-08-20T03:42:52ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-07-0116111010.1038/s41467-025-61913-9Interfacial ion-electron conversion enhanced moisture energy harvesterPuying Li0Yajie Hu1Haiyan Wang2Tiancheng He3Huhu Cheng4Liangti Qu5State Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics Technology, Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua UniversityState Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics Technology, Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua UniversityState Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics Technology, Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua UniversityState Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics Technology, Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua UniversityState Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics Technology, Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua UniversityState Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics Technology, Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua UniversityAbstract Harvesting energy from the surrounding environment holds great promise for meeting decentralized energy demands and facilitating the transition to a low-carbon economy. Ubiquitous moisture in the air offers a natural energy reservoir, but very little has yet been harnessed. Conventional moisture-electricity generators collect moisture energy through the directional migration of ions in the moisture-sorption functional materials induced by a moisture field. However, the unsatisfactory output performance severely limits their practical implementation. Herein, we develop an ion-electron conversion enhanced moisture energy harvester (i-eMEH) by creating an ion-enriched storage interface and concurrently inducing a faradic process through the dual redox couples in the functional layer/electrode interfaces. The i-eMEH reaches a record-high peak current of 9.2 mA cm−2 and power density of 6.7 W m−2, ~60 times higher than those of reported moisture-electricity generators, and approaching the output level of perovskite solar cells and thermoelectric devices. The output rises to hundreds of milliamperes and tens of volts through the device enlargement and integration, thus efficiently charging the capacitor (4F) and commercial lithium battery. This moisture energy harvester manifests the great potential for miniaturized flexible electronics and presents a crucial step towards practical applications of moisture energy harvest.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61913-9
spellingShingle Puying Li
Yajie Hu
Haiyan Wang
Tiancheng He
Huhu Cheng
Liangti Qu
Interfacial ion-electron conversion enhanced moisture energy harvester
Nature Communications
title Interfacial ion-electron conversion enhanced moisture energy harvester
title_full Interfacial ion-electron conversion enhanced moisture energy harvester
title_fullStr Interfacial ion-electron conversion enhanced moisture energy harvester
title_full_unstemmed Interfacial ion-electron conversion enhanced moisture energy harvester
title_short Interfacial ion-electron conversion enhanced moisture energy harvester
title_sort interfacial ion electron conversion enhanced moisture energy harvester
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61913-9
work_keys_str_mv AT puyingli interfacialionelectronconversionenhancedmoistureenergyharvester
AT yajiehu interfacialionelectronconversionenhancedmoistureenergyharvester
AT haiyanwang interfacialionelectronconversionenhancedmoistureenergyharvester
AT tianchenghe interfacialionelectronconversionenhancedmoistureenergyharvester
AT huhucheng interfacialionelectronconversionenhancedmoistureenergyharvester
AT liangtiqu interfacialionelectronconversionenhancedmoistureenergyharvester