Charge your smartphones with water droplets

You will soon be able to charge your smartphone with water droplets. According to some scientists, water droplets can be harnessed electricity which in turn can be used to power electronic devices.

Researchers at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) have discovered that humidity in air can be used to power your smartphone or laptop. According to them, water droplets jumping from a highly repelling surface can be used to power electronic devices.

It was discovered that water droplets spontaneously jumped away from super hydrophobic surfaces during condensation. Then it gained electric charge in the process. The research team has demonstrated that this process might be used to power electronic devices as this process generates small amounts of electricity.
In a press release MIT explained its discoveries: “Last year, MIT researchers discovered that when water droplets spontaneously jump away from super hydrophobic surfaces during condensation, they can gain electric charge in the process. Now, the same team has demonstrated that this process can generate small amounts of electricity that might be used to power electronic devices.”

According to the report, “super hydrophobic surface” with silica based nano-coatings can repel water. This technology can be used to charge your electronic devices. Apart from this it can also be used to produce clean water and generate power.

MIT also reported that this process can also be used to generate power simply by giving the second plate a hydrophilic surface. As the droplets jump, they carry charge from one plate to the other. If the two plates are connected through an external circuit, that charge difference can be harnessed by power.

Nenand Milijkovic, MITs post-doctoral fellow stated that what we need to do is to create a relationship between water present in the air (humidity) and a source of power and energy.

Milijkovic told MIT that water will condense out in the atmosphere, which is a natural phenomenon.
“The atmosphere is a huge source of power and all you need is a temperature difference between the air and the device.”