Nanostructured silicon harnesses water friction to generate electrical energy
by Robert Schreiber
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Oct 23, 2025
Researchers from Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) have unveiled a novel approach that converts the mechanical vitality of shifting water into electrical present utilizing nanoporous silicon. The invention demonstrates how friction between water and artificially structured silicon surfaces might be exploited to generate electrical energy on the nanoscale.
The research, led by scientists at DESY and the College of Hamburg, concerned fabricating silicon with an intricate community of nanoscale pores. When water passes by means of these pores, the interplay of the liquid with the strong floor results in cost separation, successfully producing a small however measurable electrical voltage. This course of, described as “streaming potential era,” depends on the friction-driven motion of ions inside confined areas.
Based on the workforce, the findings may open new paths for sustainable vitality techniques that recycle in any other case untapped kinetic vitality sources – comparable to flowing water in pipes or pure streams – at efficiencies beforehand thought of unattainable. The researchers additionally famous that this method may probably be scaled up for low-power units, sensors, or microreactors the place typical energy options are impractical.
DESY supplies scientist Anna Lee acknowledged, “This can be a promising technique for reworking water’s ubiquitous movement right into a usable energy supply with out chemical conversion or exterior energy enter.” The analysis underscores how precision nanofabrication, a core competency of DESY, can allow vitality harvesting at molecular ranges of interplay.
Analysis Report:Triboelectrification throughout non-wetting liquids intrusion-extrusion in hydrophobic nanoporous silicon monoliths
Associated Hyperlinks
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
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