Hygroelectricity: Behind the Discovery

Since the 1800s, scientists have been studying whether or not water can discharge electric. Now it has been confirmed.
Hygroelectricity: Behind the Discovery
HARNESSING HYGROELECTRICITY: Researchers are finding ways to harness electricity stored in water in the atmosphere as a new energy source and to prevent lightning from striking buildings. (Photos.com)
9/3/2010
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img class="size-medium wp-image-1815134" title="HARNESSING HYGROELECTRICITY: Researchers are finding ways to harness electricity stored in water in the atmosphere as a new energy source and to prevent lightning from striking buildings. (Photos.com)" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/88017377-electric.jpg" alt="HARNESSING HYGROELECTRICITY: Researchers are finding ways to harness electricity stored in water in the atmosphere as a new energy source and to prevent lightning from striking buildings. (Photos.com)" width="320"/></a>
HARNESSING HYGROELECTRICITY: Researchers are finding ways to harness electricity stored in water in the atmosphere as a new energy source and to prevent lightning from striking buildings. (Photos.com)

In the Sept. 7 issue of Langmuir will be a paper probing the possibility of harnessing the electricity stored in the atmosphere’s water for use as a new source of energy. The energy has been dubbed hygroelectricity, which means humidity electricity.

The scientists, from Brazil’s University of Campinas, presented their research Aug. 25 at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Boston.

“If we know how electricity builds up and spreads in the atmosphere, we can also prevent death and damage caused by lightning strikes,” said Dr. Fernando Galembeck of the University of Campinas, who led the study, in a press release.

His team of researchers, who are testing metals to find those that work best in capturing hygroelectricity, envisions placing hygroelectric panels on tops of buildings to remove electric charges in the atmosphere of areas with frequent thunderstorms.

Since the 19th century, scientists have been studying whether water can store and discharge electricity. In the past, it was believed that water could not store and release electric charges. But in 1840, some workers in the U.K. reported that when they touched the steam coming out of boilers, they got painful electric shocks, leading researchers to study the subject.

In 2009, Dr. Kate Ovchinnikova and Dr. Gerald Pollack of the University of Washington published a paper, confirming that water can store electrical charges. Now, Galembeck’s research provides further evidence suggesting that water droplets in the atmosphere can pick up the charges.

“Starting in 1997, my students have been acquiring much information from electron and scanning probe microscopy, revealing unexpected patterns of electric charge distribution on the surfaces of insulators that I (and everyone else, I think) thought to be electroneutral,” Galembeck told The Epoch Times.

“This forced me to review many questions in electrostatics, especially the nature and identity of charge-bearing species. Then, I found statements by distinguished authors in leading journals saying that there are too many knowledge gaps, in this area. After reviewing much recent and old literature (including Schrodinger’s doctoral thesis), I started to build and test a model for explaining charge build up on solids and liquids, based on selective adsorption of ions derived from water (OH- and H+).”

“In many systems, [electrostatic] charging is faster under high relative humidity than in dry environments. This is an apparent conflict with common knowledge, according to which low humidity is conductive to the appearance of static electricity,” read Galembeck’s research paper.

The researchers placed metal samples in Faraday cups, metal cups that can measure the electric currents of charged particles, and measured the samples’ electric charges while increasing the humidity. They found that as humidity increases, aluminum becomes negative, and stainless steel becomes positive.

“This was clear evidence that water in the atmosphere can accumulate electrical charges and transfer them to other materials it comes into contact with,” Galembeck said.

“According to IUPAC, it states that pure substances are electroneutral,” said Galembeck; however, “this principle seldom applies to natural systems.” The water in the atmosphere is in constant contact with other chemicals, making it impure.

“Water can dissociate into ions, positive and negative. If a water droplet is in the presence of any surface that has a greater affinity for OH- than H+ or vice versa, it will become electrically unbalanced. This is one of the main mechanisms for the formation of surface charge in aqueous colloidal systems and it is widely accepted without any objections. We are now extending this to gas-liquid and gas-solid interfaces,” Galembeck said. “Why wasn’t this done before? Frankly, I don’t know.”

“The only proven procedure [for capturing electricity] is that one described in [our paper],” Galembeck said. “However, we hypothesize that many other types of devices are conceivable. An important target of our current work is to devise ways to harness electricity from clouds and cloudiness, well before large potentials and lightnings set on.”

Read the research paper here.