Moisture-Induced Energy Harvesters by Water Harvesting for Continuous Arid Environment Operations

Abstract: 

This study presents a novel moisture-induced energy harvester designed for the operation in arid environments. The dual-stage system integrates a water harvester (WH) to capture atmospheric moisture and an energy harvester (EH) to produce electricity. Key advancements of this work include: (1) continuous moisture-to-DC current outputs for more than four days, (2) operational under a low humidity (20%) condition, and (3) an ultrahigh energy density of 12.3 mJ/cm2 − 400 times higher than those of conventional moisture-based energy harvesters without using water harvesters. The proposed strategy bridges the gap between atmospheric water harvesting and power generation technologies, providing a transformative solution for self-sustaining devices operating under harsh environmental constraints. As such, this work enhances energy harvesting devices as promising power sources in applications such as Internet-of-Things (IoT).

Keywords: {Micromechanical devices;Actuators;Transducers;Hydrogels;Electricity;Moisture;Humidity;Sensors;Energy harvesting;Power generation;Arid environment operation;atmospheric water harvesting;energy harvesting;hydrogel},

URL: 

Author: 
Sujoy K. Ghosh
Jundong Zhai
Ryan D. Rundle
Publication date: 
June 29, 2025
Publication type: 
Conference Paper (Proceedings)
Citation: 
J. H. Park et al., "Moisture-Induced Energy Harvesters by Water Harvesting for Continuous Arid Environment Operations," 2025 23rd International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems (Transducers), Orlando, FL, USA, 2025, pp. 1205-1208, doi: 10.1109/Transducers61432.2025.11109993.

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