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Electric Power Generation by Paper Materials: Journal of Materials Chemistry A August 2019
Electric Power Generation by Paper Materials: Journal of Materials Chemistry A August 2019
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DOI: 10.1039/c9ta08264f
rsc.li/materials-a
Power generation from renewable sources is important for sustainable generate electricity due to the streaming potential. Meanwhile,
development due to the depletion of traditional fossil fuels and related the ingress of moisture across certain lms of graphene oxide
environmental pollution. In this work, paper is used to generate (GO)18 and titanium dioxide nanowire networks19 was also
electricity under moisture ingress. As a result, a piece of untreated shown to induce a voltage.20,21 Mechanistically, when the
print paper (1.5 cm2 in area) can induce a voltage of 0.25 V and surface oxygen functional groups (e.g. carboxyl, hydroxyl, etc.) of
a current of 15 nA. The power output can be conveniently tuned by these materials interact with water molecules, they release free
changing the humidity, temperature and number of devices by simple hydrogen ions while generating negative ions (such as carbox-
series/parallel connections. Such paper-based moist-electric gener- ylate) that are unable to move. As a result, the upper part of the
ators (PMEGs) are expected to find their applications in the daily materials layer is full of protons while the bottom counterpart
ambient environment owing to the wide availability and low cost of has a lack of protons, forming a concentration gradient and
paper materials. A ‘power’ book is then fabricated to prove the driving protons to move from the upper to the bottom layer with
concept, providing new insights into moist-electric power generation electricity generation.22 Though the concept of moist-electricity
and a viable approach for designing extremely simple power genera- has been reliably demonstrated, the preparation of these
tors for various applications. materials usually involves multi-step chemical reactions and/or
sophisticated purication processes, signicantly limiting the
large-scale application of moist-electric devices. Therefore, it is
urgent to nd alternative materials of wide availability and low
cost to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks. In a recent
Introduction study, a highly efficient polymer moist-electric generator was
The depletion of fossil fuels and the aggravation of environment presented based on a poly(4-styrenesulfonic acid) (PSSA)
pollution have necessitated the development of green and membrane.23 An obvious open-circuit voltage of 0.8 V was
renewable ways to harvest energy from nature.1–4 For instance, detected under constant moisture feeding, where water mole-
power generation from water has signicantly contributed to cules interacted with the membrane to release moveable
the current portfolios of daily energy consumption.5–7 However, protons from the sulfonate groups and the subsequent direc-
it mainly exists in the form of hydropower, where a large alti- tional movement of protons driven by a concentration gradient
tude difference and construction of big dams are usually induced the generation of electricity.
needed.8 As a low-cost biodegradable material, paper is useful with its
In the past few years, power generation from water evapo- universal availability.24,25 Rich in oxygen functional groups and
ration and moisture ingress has attracted great attention as micro-sized pores, paper may be suitable as a hygroelectric
novel ways to harness energy from water.9–12 For example, water material. Herein, we constructed sandwiched paper-based
evaporation through carbon nanomaterials such as nano- moist-electric generators (PMEGs) with print paper as the
tubes,13,14 graphene15,16 and carbon black17 was reported to hygroelectric material for the rst time. The stimulation of
moisture led to an open-circuit voltage of 0.25 V for a 1.5 cm2
Beijing Key Laboratory of Photoelectronic/Electrophotonic Conversion Materials, Key
device of print paper and a linear increase of power output
Laboratory of Cluster Science, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and through series and parallel connections. The performance of
Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, P. R. China. the PMEG could be further improved by soaking the print paper
E-mail: zhipan@bit.edu.cn; lqu@bit.edu.cn in hydrochloric acid solution, and ve PMEGs in series were
† Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: able to directly power a commercial calculator. Additionally,
10.1039/c9ta08264f
20574 | J. Mater. Chem. A, 2019, 7, 20574–20578 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2019
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a PMEG-based ‘power’ book with a voltage output of up to 2 V cellulose (CAS 9004-62-0), hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (CAS
was also demonstrated. 9004-65-3), a-cellulose (cellulose microcrystalline, average
particle size of 90 mm, CAS 9004-34-6) and hydroxypropyl
Experimental cellulose (CAS 9004-64-2) were used. In a typical preparation, 2 g
cellulose powder was rst dissolved in 40 mL deionized water
Published on 26 August 2019. Downloaded by BEIJING INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY on 12/19/2019 9:22:01 AM.
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2019 J. Mater. Chem. A, 2019, 7, 20574–20578 | 20575
View Article Online
20576 | J. Mater. Chem. A, 2019, 7, 20574–20578 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2019
View Article Online
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2019 J. Mater. Chem. A, 2019, 7, 20574–20578 | 20577
View Article Online
Table 1 Generated voltage of various paper and cellulose materials 2 J. I. Lewis and I. Joanna, Nat. Energy, 2016, 1, 16076.
3 J. F. Cui, Y. L. Xi, S. Chen, D. H. Li, X. L. Shen, J. Sun,
Voltage Voltage
D. J. Yang and S. J. Guo, Adv. Funct. Mater., 2016, 26, 8487.
Paper type (V) Cellulose type (V)
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Rice paper 0.071 Hydroxyethyl cellulose 0.110 5 X. Chen, D. Goodnight, Z. H. Gao, A. H. Cavusoglu, M. Delay,
Published on 26 August 2019. Downloaded by BEIJING INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY on 12/19/2019 9:22:01 AM.
Tissue paper 0.126 Hydroxypropylmethyl 0.152 A. Driks and O. Sahin, Nat. Commun., 2015, 6, 7346.
cellulose 6 C. Bachhuber, Am. J. Phys., 1983, 51, 259.
Corrugated paper 0.132 a-Cellulose 0.125
Copperplate paper 0.259 Hydroxypropyl cellulose 0.150
7 F. Duan, V. K. Badam, F. Durst and C. A. Ward, Phys. Rev. E:
Print paper 0.276 Carboxymethyl cellulose 0.225 Stat., Nonlinear, So Matter Phys., 2005, 72, 056303.
8 S. Wall, Curr. Opin. Colloid Interface Sci., 2010, 15, 119.
9 X. W. Nie, B. X. Ji, N. Chen, Y. Liang, Q. Han and L. T. Qu,
not conducive to the retention of water molecules. The moisture Nano Energy, 2018, 46, 297.
absorption coefficient (MAC) is given as 10 Y. F. Xu, P. N. Chen and H. S. Peng, Chemistry, 2018, 24,
6287.
MAC ¼ W/D 100 11 Z. H. Zhang, X. M. Li, J. Yin, W. W. Fei, M. M. Xue, Q. Wang,
J. X. Zhou and W. L. Guo, Nat. Nanotechnol., 2018, 13, 1109.
where D is the weight of a material at room temperature and W 12 C. X. Shao, J. Gao, T. Xu, B. X. Ji, Y. K. Xiao, C. Gao, Y. Zhao
is the weight of water in this material under moisture ingress. and L. T. Qu, Nano Energy, 2018, 53, 698–705.
Rice paper and print paper showed MAC values of 3.0 and 3.8, 13 S. Ghosh, A. K. Sood and N. Kumar, ChemInform, 2003, 299,
partly explaining the difference in generated voltage. Overall, 1042.
these results suggest that cellulose-based and paper materials 14 Y. Zhao, Adv. Mater., 2010, 20, 1772.
can be used to generate electricity under moisture stimulation, 15 J. Yin, Z. H. Zhang, X. M. Li, J. X. Zhou and W. L. Guo, Nano
providing a general approach and considerable space to develop Lett., 2012, 12, 1736.
a new generation of green power supply systems. 16 J. Yin, X. M. Li, J. Yu, Z. H. Zhang, J. X. Zhou and W. L. Guo,
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Conclusions 17 G. B. Xue, Y. Xu, T. P. Ding, J. Li, J. Yin, W. W. Fei, Y. Z. Cao,
J. Yu, L. Y. Yuan, L. Gong, S. Z. Deng, J. Zhou and W. L. Guo,
In summary, we propose paper as a new hygroelectric material Nat. Nanotechnol., 2017, 12, 317.
in moisture-induced power generation for the rst time. A 18 Y. Liang, F. Zhao, Y. X. Deng, Y. K. Xiao, H. H. Cheng,
PMEG with an area of 1.5 cm2 generated an electric output of P. P. Zhang, Y. X. Huang, H. B. Shao and L. T. Qu, Energy
0.25 V and 15 nA and the performance was stable over 30 000 Environ. Sci., 2018, 11, 1730.
seconds. The electric output was further enhanced by con- 19 D. Z. Shen, M. Xiao, G. S. Zou, L. Liu, W. W. Duley and
necting PMEGs in series or in parallel, and a portable device N. Zhou, Adv. Mater., 2018, 30, 1705925.
based on a book was built to generate electricity by moisture 20 F. Zhao, H. H. Cheng, Z. P. Zhang, L. Jiang and L. T. Qu, Adv.
stimulation. This work offers a novel type of hygroelectric Mater., 2015, 27, 4351.
material for moisture-induced power generation, opening up 21 Y. X. Huang, H. H. Cheng, C. Yang, H. Z. Yao, C. Li and
a new possibility for practical application of moist-electric L. T. Qu, Energy Environ. Sci., 2019, 12, 1848.
devices. 22 T. Xu, X. T. Ding, C. X. Shao, L. Song, T. Y. Lin, X. Gao,
J. L. Xue, Z. P. Zhang and L. T. Qu, Small, 2018, 14, 1704473.
Conflicts of interest 23 T. Xu, X. T. Ding, Y. X. Huang, C. X. Shao, L. Song, X. Gao,
Z. P. Zhang and L. T. Qu, Energy Environ. Sci., 2019, 12, 972.
There are no conicts to declare. 24 A. Martinez, S. Phillips, M. Butte and G. Whitesides, Angew.
Chem., 2007, 46, 1318.
Acknowledgements 25 X. Wang, J. A. Hagen and I. Papautsky, Biomicrouidics, 2013,
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This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of 26 G. M. Dorris and D. G. Gray, Cellul. Chem. Technol., 1978, 61,
China (2017YFB1104300 and 2016YFA0200200), NSFC (No. 545.
51673026, 21774015, and 21325415), NSFC-MAECI 27 Y. Fan, The Book of the Later Han, 432 A.D.–445 A.D., vol. 78,
(51861135202), Beijing Natural Science Foundation (2152028), p. 445.
111 Project 807012, and Graduate Technological Innovation 28 R. J. Moon, A. Martini, J. Nairn, J. Simonsen and
Project of Beijing Institute of Technology (2019CX10016). J. Youngblood, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, 40, 3941.
29 S. H. Kim, C. M. Lee and K. Kae, Korean J. Chem. Eng., 2013,
Notes and references 30, 2127.
20578 | J. Mater. Chem. A, 2019, 7, 20574–20578 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2019