Energy Harvesting and Storage by Water Infiltration of Eggshell Membrane

Abstract

As a domestic waste in daily life, eggshell membrane (ESM) is a unique biomaterial due to its biocompatibility, bioadsorption, and the structure of interwoven and coalescing fibers with many pores which can be utilized in many fields. Herein, a new kind of potentially biocompatible energy harvesting and storage device based on polymer polyaniline/carbon nanotube (PANI/CNT) composite electrodes and ESM is designed. Without external electric power, a single device can extract a maximal output voltage of 0.26 V from water osmosis. The energy can be stored directly and released circularly, and the output voltage can achieve superposition by integrating devices in series. This self‐charging bioelectric phenomenon can be explained by the membrane potential of the ESM induced by water movement. Due to the biocompatible feature of the ESM, and sufficiently high electric output, this study provides a new idea for sustainable and biocompatible energy harvesting and storage devices.

Microbe‐Mediated Biosynthesis of Multidimensional Carbon‐Based Materials for Energy Storage Applications

“…The microorganisms (e.g., bacteria, fungus, yeasts, viruses) and proteins show high adsorption to capture guest components (e.g., SWCNTs, graphene, mineral nanoparticles, metal ions, and phosphate anions) due to the functions of hydrophilic (polar) interactions, bioconjugation interactions, electrostatic interaction, and hydrogen bond, which promoting the synthesis of microorganisms (proteins)/inorganic composites. [52,104] In view of these interesting characteristics, the as-assembled inorganic materials can be diverse including metal compounds [29] and silica, [105] and exhibit regulated size, well-organized structure, and high surface charge. Hence, in situ bioadsorption via the living microorganisms and proteins are considered as the alternative routes for synthesis of inorganic nanomaterials.…”

Compact Electrolytic Hydrocapacitor for Direct Harvesting and Storing Energy from Water Droplet Achieving High Voltage

“…Carbon-based materials have been demonstrated as outstanding electrodes for supercapacitors and hydrocapacitors. [40,41,48,55,56] The voltage of the discharging process remained stable at ≈23 mV. The discharging current curve after adding tap water is charged up to 1.5 V (applied current of 0.5 mA cm −2 ).…”

“…In recent years, small-scale hydropower has attracted increasing attention owing to the ubiquity and abundance of water droplets that are not influenced by weather or ambient conditions. [39][40][41] As an alternative to traditional hydroelectric generators that rely on large-scale water flow in dams, harvesting energy from small-scale water movements using carbon materials, such as carbon nanotube (CNT), graphene, and its derivatives, has emerged as a highly promising approach. [22,[42][43][44][45][46][47][48] The device that simultaneously harvests and stores this type of hydropower, referred to as a "hydrocapacitor," was first proposed by Fan et al in 2018.…”