Recent advances and challenges for water evaporation-induced electricity toward applications

Abstract Water evaporation-induced electricity generation technology has become an extremely interesting issue recently for supplying both freshwater and electricity. This review concentrates on advances in the recent development of water evaporation-induced electricity generation systems for possible application in the Internet of Things, resistive switching memory, devices collecting big data. Additionally, its application in powering some small electronic devices, energy storage, electrochemical deposition and electrochemical cells are also specifically clarified in this work. We divided water evaporation-induced electricity generation systems into three classifications, including tandem devices, hybrid devices, and self-powered generators. The mechanism and application of each electricity generation system are also carefully discussed. Lastly, future opportunities and difficulties to develop water evaporation-induced electricity generation systems are also mentioned.