Biomimetic Aerogel with Aligned Porous Structures from Ice Templating for Water Evaporation‐Induced Electricity Generation
Jingjing Zhang, Peng Cui, Jingjing Wang, Ying Ge, Huan Meng, Can Feng, Huimin Liu, Gang Cheng, Zuliang Du
Abstract
Abstract Water evaporation is a ubiquitous natural process for collecting thermal energy from the environment. Carbon nanomaterial‐based aerogels are good candidates for use as hydroelectric generators (HEGs), permitting substantial interaction with water through electronic coupling, and have been considered for application in evaporation‐induced electricity generation. However, the water transport and electricity generation ability of the aerogels are affected by their pore structures. Inspired by the directional transport of the water vessel elements of the xylem, a biomimetic partially reduced graphene oxide aerogel (prGO) with an aligned porous structure is prepared, assisted by directional ice templating. The as‐prepared prGO aerogel presents a high capillary water transport rate and can efficiently transport water to the top, which is the basis for efficient current generation. This biomimetic prGO is scalable, providing an avenue for assembling other low‐dimensional carbon materials into high current output HEGs.