Nanotechnology breakthrough generates clean electricity from thin air 24/7.

Engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have discovered a way to continuously harvest electricity from humidity in the air using a device made of any material with nanopores smaller than 100 nanometers. The device creates a charge imbalance, like that in a cloud, by allowing water molecules to pass through the material, creating a battery that runs as long as there is humidity in the air. The technology could offer cost-effective and environment-adaptable fabrications, and since humidity is ever-present, the harvester would run 24/7, rain or shine, at night and whether or not the wind blows, solving one of the major problems of technologies like wind or solar.