Is Heat Really Beneficial to Water Evaporation-Driven Electricity?

Water evaporation-driven electricity (EDE) has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years as a novel renewable energy. Previous works have demonstrated that a high evaporation rate leads to a large output voltage. Hence, it is believed that heating is beneficial to EDE by enhancing the evaporation rate. However, experimental verification is lacking. This study demonstrates that heat induces a thermodiffusion effect that drives hydrated ions in the opposite direction of the evaporation-driven water flow, which reduces the output voltage as a synergistic effect. Our findings could be useful for designing a multifunction EDE generator and provide insight into the electricity generation mechanism.