Electric power generation using paper materials

Abstract

Power generation from renewable sources is important for sustainable development due to the depletion of traditional fossil fuels and related environmental pollution. In this work, paper is used to generate electricity under moisture ingress. As a result, a piece of untreated print paper (1.5 cm² in area) can induce a voltage of 0.25 V and a current of 15 nA. The power output can be conveniently tuned by changing the humidity, temperature and number of devices by simple series/parallel connections. Such paper-based moist-electric generators (PMEGs) are expected to find their applications in the daily ambient environment owing to the wide availability and low cost of paper materials. A ‘power’ book is then fabricated to prove the concept, providing new insights into moist-electric power generation and a viable approach for designing extremely simple power generators for various applications.