Sea water and rusty iron are capable of generating electricity
Such an amazing discovery was made by scientists from the California Institute of Technology and Northwestern University, when they noticed that the flowing salt water through the thinnest layer of rust is capable of generating an electric current.
By the way, a similar effect was previously discovered when using graphene and water, but since so far graphene difficult to produce on an industrial scale, then scientists began to look for a replacement and, as they say, found it.
How is the process going
In this case, electricity is generated according to the following principle:
Electricity is generated due to the so-called electrokinetic effect (use of the kinetic energy of flowing water).
That is, the existing ions in salt water attract free electrons in a sheet of rusty iron, that is, in such a simple way, a directed motion of charged particles (current) is created.
Scientists used physical vapor deposition (PVD) to form the thinnest layer of rust. Thus, it was possible to obtain a rust layer of 10 nm.
After that, they began practical experiments with saline solutions of various concentrations.
As a result, it was possible to find out that using a salt concentration identical to seawater, it turned out to achieve an efficiency of 30%.
A generation of several tens of millivolts and a couple of microamperes was obtained from one square centimeter of a rusty piece of iron.
What does this discovery give
This successful experiment opens up quite bright prospects. So, according to T. Miller (co-author of the study): if you increase the size of a sheet of iron to 10 square meters, then the electricity it generates is quite enough to provide energy to the average household.
In addition, using this effect, it will be possible to provide power, for example, to buoys of various coastal services.
The same effect can be used to power medical implants, because blood flows in our veins, which in essence is a saline solution.
The results of the scientific work done were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
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