Hydroelectric Voltage Generation Based on Water-Filled Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

QZ Yuan and YP Zhao, JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, 131, 6374-+ (2009).

DOI: 10.1021/ja8093372

A DFT/MD mutual iterative method was employed to give insights into the mechanism of voltage generation based on water-fitted single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). Our calculations showed that a constant voltage difference of several mV would generate between the two ends of a carbon nanotube, due to interactions between the water dipole chains and charge carriers in the tube. Our work validates this structure of a water-fitted SWCNT as a promising candidate for a synthetic nanoscale power cell, as well as a practical nanopower harvesting device at the atomic level.

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