Experimental Study on Carbon Nanotube Generators in Seawater Environment

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are considered by many researchers as the most promising reinforcement materials for use in high performance composite. The flowing ions in ionic liquid can drags free carriers in CNTs and generate electricity. In the paper, CNTs/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite has been fabricated by using filtration and transfer process. Seawater is ion-rich liquid, so it could be used to induce electricity from CNTs in composite. The relationship between the induced voltage and flowing velocity of seawater and DI water are investigated. The voltage increases with increasing flowing velocity and saturates slowly. The voltage generated under the condition of seawater is much bigger than that generated under the condition of DI water.