DNA-based recyclable moist-electric generator

Recently developed moist-electric generator (MEG) can spontaneously produce electricity after absorbing water from the air, delivering an interesting and novel power harvesting process. The employment of environment-friendly biological substrates in MEGs has demonstrated the favorable electricity generation capacity, however, which always requires a careful cultivation process or gentle storage environment. In this regard, the extremely abundant DNA formed porous membrance is fabricated to construct a novel recyclable DNA based MEG (DNA-MEG) which produces a stable voltage of ca. 0.3 V with a current density of ca. 1.2 μA·cm⁻², as well as a maximum power density of 0.36 μW·cm⁻² at ~90 % relative humidity air. Interestingly, benefited from excellent water-solubility, this freeze-drying DNA membrance can be easily recycled after DNA-MEG damaged and the reborned device still shows favorable electricity generation performance. In addition, several DNA-MEGs in parallel or series can power up light-emitting diodes and so on for applications. This stable and recyclable DNA-MEG will provide new insights for moisture power generation device design and enlarge the practical regions greatly.