Indian Scientists Are Using Water To Generate Electricity

Indian scientists are creating a device that could produce electricity with the use of water.

DNA India reported that scientists at Delhi's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have developed an incredible way to produce electricity using drops of water at a room temperature. The device is called hydroelectric cell, which functions as a power source without any use of chemicals or other power-generating machines.

This hydro panel generates up to a quarter ampere current at about 1 volt. To come up with this revolutionary development, Chief Scientist Dr. R. K. Kotnala and Dr. Jyoti Shah used nanoporous magnesium ferrite to separate water elements into hydronium (H3O) and hydroxide (OH) ions by itself as well as silver and zinc as electrodes that could produce electricity.

The study titled Green Hydroelectrical Energy Source Based on Water Dissociation by Nano-porous Ferrite was published in the International Journal of Energy Research. According to their findings, a 2-inch diameter of magnesium ferrite could produce a 82 mA current and a 0.9 volt. Scientists are currently improving the hydroelectric cell design to generate a 150 mA current with 0.9 volt.

"When we connect four cells [of 2-inch diameter] in series the voltage increase to 3.70 volts and we can operate a small plastic fan or a LED light of 1 watt," Dr. Kotnala said in a statement, adding that, "At a stretch, we can operate the LED for one week as zinc hydroxide, which forms at the anode, gets into the nanopores of Magnesium Ferrite and reduces its activity."

Dr. Kotnala told The Economic Times India that it took them 11 long years to develop the technology and two years in creating the device. The hydroelectric cell has already been patented and the team is already working on making it a form of a dry cell to protect it from electrical contacts.