Natural evaporation in water surface, ubiquitous phase transition in ambient condition, has been employed to various researches like an energy conversion device based on a solid-liquid interfacial phenomena. Remarkably, they showed off interesting characteristics such as spontaneous and continuous electricity generation. However, concrete origins and mechanisms of the device are still in obscurities because of limited approaches based on carbon materials and difficulties in a direct observation of the solid-liquid interface. In this study, the origin of the evaporation-induced electricity generation was identified in terms of an ‘ionovoltaic’ phenomenon<sup>[1,2]</sup>, which is natural evaporation-induced ionic motions and charge carrier flows in nanoscale capillary water, through a controllable metal oxide platform. The zinc oxide (ZnO) semiconductors-based device showed spontaneous electricity generation with constant electrical signals of ~0.4 V (open circuit voltage) and ~ 20 nA (short circuit current). This study improves a grasp of ionic behaviors and corresponding charge carrier motions by coulombic interaction in the natural evaporation-driven energy generation system. The investigation of the device mechanism provides an expandability to various materials and an applicability as an advanced energy conversion device.<br/><br/>

Identification of natural evaporation-induced ionovoltaic electrical energy conversion system

2019 Fall National Meeting

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