Imagine charging your phone just by walking outside—or powering entire buildings without wind, sun, or plugs. Thanks to a team of engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, this futuristic idea might be closer to reality than you think.
Turning Air into Energy
Researchers at UMass Amherst have figured out how to pull electricity out of the air 24/7, using almost any material. The magic ingredient? Tiny holes—called nanopores—less than 100 nanometers wide (that’s about 1,000 times smaller than a human hair!).
Graduate student Xiaomeng Liu, one of the lead researchers, calls this discovery "a wide door for harvesting clean electricity from thin air."
The key is something they’re calling the “generic Air-gen effect.” This means that electricity can be created from air humidity using materials that have been specially designed with these microscopic holes. It doesn’t matter what the material is, as long as it has the right size nanopores.
How It Works
Let’s break it down:
- Air contains water molecules that carry electrical charge.
- These molecules are constantly bouncing around in the air.
- When a material has nanopores smaller than 100 nanometers, the water molecules pass through unevenly—more hit the top than the bottom.
- This creates a charge imbalance, like in a cloud before a lightning strike, generating a steady flow of electricity.
Jun Yao, assistant professor at UMass and one of the senior authors of the study, says this setup acts like a battery that never needs charging—as long as there’s moisture in the air.
Better Than Solar or Wind?
Unlike solar panels or wind turbines, which only work under the right conditions, this new Air-gen device works all the time. It doesn’t need sun or wind—just humidity, which is basically everywhere.
Even better, these devices can be stacked, one on top of the other, to increase power without taking up more space. That means you could build powerful energy systems that are small, affordable, and usable just about anywhere—from dense cities to remote deserts.
A Game-Changer for Clean Energy
Because this technology can be made from so many different materials, it opens the door to cheap, scalable clean energy—customizable for any climate or location.
“This is simple, but no one’s ever done it before,” says Yao. “We’re excited about the possibilities.”
Imagine homes powered without fossil fuels, emergency shelters running on air, or wearable devices that never need to be recharged. This breakthrough could be a major leap toward a world where clean, affordable electricity is always within reach.
What’s Next?
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, Sony Group, and the Institute for Applied Life Sciences at UMass Amherst. With more development, this air-powered tech could change how we think about—and use—energy in our daily lives.
Source:
https://www.umass.edu/news/article/new-green-technology-umass-amherst
https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202300748
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