Professor Dong-Myeong Shin from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and his team, worked on the research for the topic “Long-lasting moisture energy scavenging in dry ambient air empowered by a salt concentration-gradient cationic hydrogel”. The research findings were published by Advanced Functional Materials on June 19, 2025.
Details of the publication:
Long-lasting moisture energy scavenging in dry ambient air empowered by a salt concentration-gradient cationic hydrogel
Eunjong Kim, Xiaoting Ma, Jiaming Zhou, Jingyi Gao, Aohua Liu, Yu Ru, Yoonseob Kim, Seungkyu Lee, Dong-Myeong Shin
Article in Advanced Functional Materials
https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adfm.202570151
Abstract
Converting ambient moisture into electric power is attractive as a next-generation energy harvesting technology, serving as a countermeasure to overwhelming energy demands due to its sustainability and ubiquitous nature. However, achieving a long-lasting and high density of electrical power generation at low humidity is challenging. Here, synergizing a water flow and an auxiliary anion migration in tandem with an embedded ion flow in a salt concentration-gradient cationic gel, these challenges are tackled and developed a moisture-activated electricity generator (MEG) with longevity (>50 days), low energy loss, and adequate power of 13.8 mW m−2 at low (30%) relative humidity. Witha stacking strategy with combinations of serial and parallel configurations, the electrical output of the MEG module can cover practical electric devices with a broad range of power consumption, unveiling the potential of MEG to power practical appliances sustainably and omnipresently.