Graphene Oxide Sponge with Gradient Porosity for Moisture-Electric Generator

Moisture can be utilized as a tremendous source of electricity by emerging moisture-electric generator (MEG). The directional moving of water molecules, which can be driven by gradient of functional groups and water evaporation, is vital for the electricity generation. Here, MEG composed of Graphene Oxide (GO-MEG) with gradient channels is constructed by one-step ice-templating technique, achieving a voltage of 0.48 V and a current of ~ 5.64 µA under humid condition. The gradient channels introduce Laplace pressure difference to the absorbed water droplets and electric potential between two side of the GO-MEG, facilitating the charge flow. Output voltage can be easily enhanced by increasing the structural gradient, reducing the channel size, incorporation of chemical gradient, or scaling up the number of GO-MEG units in series. This work not only provides insight for the working mechanism of GO-MEG with structural gradient, which can be applied to other functional materials, but also establishes a convenient and ecofriendly strategy to construct and finely tune the structural gradient in porous materials.