Publication date: 22nd July 2026
Electricity can be generated from ambient heat via the hydrovoltaic effect, which refers to the generation of electrical energy from the interaction of water or aqueous electrolytes with nanostructured surfaces.[1], [2] The transpiration of aqueous electrolytes through nanoporous materials can sustain this voltage generation reliably. The use of a hermetic hydrovoltaic cell (HHC) provides insulation from meteorological variations and results in negligible consumption of the electrolyte. Previously, a sustained voltage generation in HHC has only been achieved by fabricating a heterogeneous wicking bilayer structure consisting of a carbon black film (deposited onto a substrate) layered on top with a tissue paper.[3] In our HHC, comprising of only a homogeneous film of spherical carbon nanoparticles, we sustained voltage output of ~450 mV for 50 hours. Herein, the effect of electrolyte (ion-size and concentration) and carbon nanoparticle surface chemistry on the performance of hermetic hydrovoltaic cell will be discussed. The concentration of electrolyte and nanoparticle surface chemistry provide means to control the voltage from ~100 mV to ~450 mV in a single HHC. The obtained results can be explained within the framework conventional streaming potential and pseudo-streaming mechanisms. Our findings provide an avenue for exploiting low-grade ambient heat for electricity generation under high humidity conditions.
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