Harvesting Energy from Atmospheric Water: Grand Challenges in Continuous Electricity Generation

Atmospheric water is ubiquitous on earth and extensively participates in the natural water cycle through evaporation and condensation. This process involves tremendous energy exchange with the environment, but very little of the energy has so far been harnessed. The recently emerged hydrovoltaic technology, especially moisture-induced electricity, shows great potential in harvesting energy from atmospheric water and gives birth to moisture energy harvesting devices. The device performance, especially the long-term operational capacity, has been significantly enhanced over the past few years. Further development; however, requires in-depth understanding of mechanisms, innovative materials, and ingenious system designs. In this review, beginning with describing the basic properties of water, the key aspects of the water-hygroscopic material interactions and mechanisms of power generation are discussed. The current material systems and advances in promising material development are then summarized. Aiming at the chief bottlenecks of limited operational time, advanced system designs that are helpful to improve device performance are listed. Especially, the synergistic effect of moisture adsorption and water evaporation on material and system levels to accomplish sustained electricity generation is discussed. Last, the remaining challenges are analyzed and future directions for developing this promising technology are suggested.