Chemists have generated electricity from water by passing it through a material containing atom-thick sheets of carbon.

Liangti Qu at the Beijing Institute of Technology and his colleagues developed a 3D structure made from graphene oxide that had holes big enough to let moisture pass through them freely. The water molecules reacted with oxygen-containing groups in the graphene oxide, dissociating to form hydrogen ions. The oxygen groups were distributed unevenly in the material, with more at the bottom than the top, resulting in a large-enough flow of ions to generate electric power.

The material was sandwiched between two aluminium electrodes studded with holes to let moisture pass through. The resulting power illuminated a light-emitting diode lightbulb.

Energy Environ. Sci. http://doi.org/bcg2 (2016)