Recently, academician Guo Wanlin and his team pointed out the connotation of zero or even negative carbon emission of "water volt technology", and realized the whole chain coverage of its basic principle, material synthesis and device optimization, in order to clarify the bulk phase hydroelectricity, droplet power generation, water evaporation-induced power generation and wet gas power generation process based on solid (gas) liquid interface. Furthermore, the future development direction of "water volt technology" is summarized and prospected. On May 31, 2022, the achievement was titled "Hydrovoltaic Technology: From Mechanism to Applications "was published in Chemical Society Reviews, a journal of the Royal Society of Chemical Publishing. (According to Clarivate Analytics' SCI Journal Citation Analysis Report published in June 2022, Chemical Society Reviews has a recent impact factor of 60.615!)

Water absorbs 35 percent of the solar energy that reaches the earth's surface and converts most of its energy into latent heat, which is used for water evaporation and drives the earth's water cycle. How to effectively develop and utilize this part of water energy is considered to be one of the important ways to solve the current world energy crisis. Secondly, the use of water energy often does not increase carbon dioxide emissions, which will greatly relieve the current pressure of carbon emissions and help China achieve the "carbon standard" and "carbon neutral" strategic goals at an early date. To this end, there are a lot of reports on "water volt technology" that can collect energy from the water cycle, such as rain, waves, water flow, moisture and natural evaporation, through the interaction between nanomaterials and water. In view of key indicators such as energy conversion efficiency, the research of optimizing material composition, modifying material surface and reasonably designing device structure has received extensive attention, and the voltage and current of power generation are constantly refreshing new historical highs.

Academician Guo Wanlin and his team discussed the current progress of "water volt technology" from four aspects: body phase water (water with continuous and uniform quality), droplet, water evaporation and moisture. Based on the basic principle, the contact interface between the material system and different forms of water is discussed in depth, and the performance optimization path of the water vapor device is proposed, including material composition regulation, device structure optimization and multifunctional device integration. Finally, on the basis of reviewing the development history of water volt technology, this paper Outlines the grand prospect of the emerging field of water volt technology, and provides an industry and science guide for the development of water volt technology.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, increasing human activities have intensified the greenhouse effect, which has had an important impact on the earth's ecology and People's Daily life. As more and more countries devote themselves to the cause of "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality", China is faced with the arduous task of carbon dioxide reduction. Compared with traditional power generation, collecting energy from water does not produce emissions of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, and is even conducive to absorbing heat from the surrounding environment, becoming a new way of generating electricity from negative heat (especially steam generation process). Therefore, "water volt technology" is expected to take the lead in the application of rivers, lakes and other large areas of water, as well as other cities and regions with abundant water resources, to provide electricity for the national economy and people's livelihood. We firmly believe that through the joint efforts of researchers, "water volt technology" is bound to become a new way to deal with the energy crisis. Academician Guo Wanlin, Professor Liu Yanpeng and Professor Zhang Zhuhua are the corresponding authors, Doctoral student Wang Xiaofan is the first author, lecturer Lin Fengsheng and Professor Yin Jun are the co-authors.

Chemical Society Reviews was founded in 1972 and published by the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK. Chemical Society Reviews is a first-class journal specializing in publishing advanced Reviews and Tutorial Reviews related to Chemical synthesis. He has a high academic influence in the fields of chemistry, chemical engineering and materials, and his journal papers play an important leading and guiding role in the development of related fields.

Link:https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/cs/d1cs00778e