--- title: "Scientists Harvest Electricity From “Thin Air” Using Strange Material" description: "Electricity in the air can be harnessed — and the simple conductor film used to harvest this energy can be made from almost anything. " date: "2023-05-26" modified: "2023-05-26" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-discover-material-electricity-air" categories: - "Energy" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "electricity" - "electricity generator" - "green energy" - "the digest" --- # Scientists Harvest Electricity From “Thin Air” Using Strange Material ![Electricity in the air can be harnessed — and the simple conductor film used to harvest this energy can be made from almost anything. ]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Electric Feel In intriguing new research, scientists are continuing to explore the finding that the electrical currents surrounding us can be harvested — using a material made from living organisms. In a statement, the University of Massachusetts Amherst [announced that]() electrical engineer Jun Yao and his team had built upon [prior research]() in a [new paper]() in the journal *Advanced Materials* into what they call the "Air-gen effect." The basic idea? Growing conducive nanofilms out of bacteria that can pull small amounts of electricity from the water vapor in the air. "The air contains an enormous amount of electricity," Yao said in the school's statement. "Think of a cloud, which is nothing more than a mass of water droplets. Each of those droplets contains a charge, and when conditions are right, the cloud can produce a lightning bolt—but we don’t know how to reliably capture electricity from lightning. What we’ve done is to create a human-built, small-scale cloud that produces electricity for us predictably and continuously so that we can harvest it." ## Gen X Because of its bacterial foundation, the material's [initial discovery in 2020 was heralded]() as an intriguing new avenue for green energy tech. Yao and his team have continued to explore the concept, and he says they've found the concept is more generalizable than previously believed. "What we realized after making the Geobacter discovery," Yao said, "is that the ability to generate electricity from the air... turns out to be generic: literally any kind of material can harvest electricity from air, as long as it has a certain property." That property, the research update notes, is what's known as the "mean free path" or distance between molecules. In the case of water molecules suspended in air, that distance is 100 nanometers, or a tiny fraction of the width of a human hair. So long as the film has those tiny perforations, his team says, the material seems to be irrelevant. Though the team is mostly focused on generating minuscule amounts of electricity for wearable devices right now — already raising interesting new possibilities for consumer tech — the real question is likely to be how far the phenomenon can scale. **More on similar research:** [*Scientists Discover Enzyme That Can Turn Air Into Electricity*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()