Energy conversion via metal nanolayers.

ABSTRACT: Current approaches for electric power generation from nanoscale conducting or semiconducting layers in contact with moving aqueous droplets are promising as they show efficiencies of around 30%, yet even the most successful ones pose challenges regarding fabrication and scaling. Here, we report stable, all-inorganic single-element structures synthesized in a single step that generate electrical current when alternating salinity gradients flow along its surface in a liquid flow cell. Nanolayers of iron, vanadium, or nickel, 10 to 30 nm thin, produce open-circuit potentials of several tens of millivolt and current densities of several microA cm^-2 at aqueous flow velocities of just a few cm s^-1 The principle of operation is strongly sensitive to charge-carrier motion in

SUBMITTER: Boamah MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6697787 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature