Moisture-Induced Ionovoltaic Electricity Generation by Manipulating Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Halide Perovskites

Abstract

Attempts to satisfy the vast demands for electric power in our daily lives and to address the depletion of existing fossil fuels have led to the development of new energy conversion technologies. Herein, we present a different type of electric generation, called ionovoltaic electricity generation (IEG), that results from manipulating organic− inorganic hybrid halide perovskite structures with moisture. This IEG can generate an open-circuit voltage of up to ∼0.5 V and a short-circuit current density of ∼0.1 mA cm −2 , which is sufficient to power small electronic devices. In this work we have utilized the transformation of structurally zero-dimensional perovskite, specifically MA 4 PbBr 6 •2H 2 O, to three-dimensional MAPbBr 3 in the presence of humidity. Flexible power supply devices made of organic−inorganic hybrid perovskite layers are designed and fabricated for harvesting the energy from human breath and some other real-life conditions. This work opens a new direction in the field of organic−inorganic hybrid halide perovskites and offers an extremely simple method for energy conversion of practical importance.

Superstrong Ionogel Enabled by Coacervation-Induced Nanofibril Assembly for Sustainable Moisture Energy Harvesting

“…Considering that our ionogels adsorb moist and allow water molecules to infiltrate across the membrane, coupled with the nanoporous structure and high ionic conductivity, the ionogel membrane can be sandwiched between a pair of electrodes to construct typical MEG (Figure S24). Although multiple technologies have been reported to harvest energy from air humidity, and a variety of materials have been applied in such an energy harvesting process, ,,, it has been rarely reported to use ionogels for power generation from humidity, because it was difficult for ionogels to integrate these advantages and the multifunctionality required for MEG.…”

“…Considering that water molecules dissociate and hydrate the IL into the ion charge carriers, a spontaneous ion gradient corresponding to the moisture gradient across the film thickness is yielded, which drives the directional migration and transmembrane transport of ions. Water molecules also lower the energy barrier for ion transport and facilitate ionic mobility . The molecule chains of PIL are adsorbed and wrap onto the nanofibril surface, and hence, the surface of the nanoporous structure of the ionogel is positively charged by PIL, which hinders the migration of cations (Figure S25a).…”

“…Additionally, PIL improves the compatibility between CNF and the IL, increasing the stability and IL inclusion of the ionogels. Finally, we applied the ionogel membranes to moisture-enabled electricity generation (MEG) based on the ionic diffusion migration across the ionogel membrane, , and we demonstrated the utilization of the ionogels as an energy harvesting window and skin-wearable generators. This design strategy and the engineered ionogels offer insights into the development of high-performance ionogels and the field of sustainable applications.…”

Advances and Challenges for Hydrovoltaic Intelligence

“…After the “ionovoltaic effect” was proposed, more groups were devoted to applying an “ionovoltaic device” to a broader range of applications. − As shown in Figure j, the group of Youn-Sang Kim demonstrated that a silica gel/APTES/POTS active transducer could serve as a type of self-powered pH sensor . In the experiments, the output signals were measured by dropping acid, water, and base droplets.…”

A DFT study on CH3NH3MnBr3: a novel multiferroic organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite

“…In recent years, extensive experimental and theoretical studies have been conducted on these materials, covering a wide range of device configurations. 8–14 The successful applications in photovoltaics have also stimulated research in other related fields, including light-emitting diodes, 15–18 lasers, 19 photodetectors, 20 catalysis, 21 thermoelectricity, 22 and piezoelectric energy harvesting. 23,24 The exceptional optoelectronic and electromechanical properties of organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites (OIHPs) can be attributed to their highly tunable composition, structure, and dimensionality.…”