Scientistsโค Discover Electricity Generation potential in Salt-Doped Ice
Aโข collaborative teamโ of researchers โfrom China and Spain has unlocked a novel method for generating electricity using ordinary ice – by adding salt. The breakthrough, detailed in a paper published last month โคinโฃ Nature Materials, demonstratesโ that saline ice โcan produce an electrical response comparable too high-performing ceramicโฃ materials when bent,โค opening the โฃdoor to a perhaps low-cost and sustainable energy source โคfor cold regions.
Despite covering 10 percent of the Earth’s โคsurface,โ the energy potential of ice has remained largely unexplored. Thisโค new research reveals that โincorporatingโฃ salt into ice fundamentally changes itsโ electrical properties, enabling it to harness energy throughโ a phenomenon โcalled flexoelectricity. โFlexoelectricity occurs when an electrical charge isโ generated in a material subjected to โขnon-uniform โคstrain – in this case, bending the salt-doped ice.
the team successfully fabricated devices โusing โsaline ice, showcasing its potential as an energy source in frigid environments. this finding builds on earlierโฃ work, published in Nature Physics in โAugust, conducted โฃby the same researchers alongside colleagues from Stony Brook University โคin New York, which first identifiedโ ice’s capacity to generate power through bending.