Nanogenerator consumes CO2 to generate electricity
Researchers at the University of Queensland have developed a proof-of-concept nanogenerator that generates electricity when filled with carbon dioxide (CO2).
Dr Zhuyuan Wang from UQ’s Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation said the small nanogenerator is carbon negative as it is a consumer of the greenhouse gas.
“This nanogenerator is made of two components: a polyamine gel that is already used by industry to absorb CO2 and a skeleton a few atoms thick of boron nitrate that generates positive and negative ions,” Dr Wang said in a statement.
“We’ve worked out how to make the positive ions much larger than the negative ions and because the different sizes move at different speeds, they generate a diffusion current which can be amplified into electricity to power light bulbs or any electronic device.
“In nature and in the human body, ion transportation is the most efficient energy conversion – more efficient than electron transportation which is used in the power network.”
The two components were embedded in a hydrogel, cut into 4cm discs and small rectangles and tested in a box filled with CO2.
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