HUNTER · Advanced Humidity to Electricity Converter

The HUNTER project will develop revolutionary power devices that convert humidity into electrical charge (hygroelectricity), thereby contributing to the European technology and creativity through joint R&D and R&I multisectorial and international cooperation activities supported by knowledge sharing. The devices will harvest electricity from atmospheric humidity and supply a current, such as solar cells capture sunlight and generate electrical power. The successful realization of the project is assured by implementing a coordinated network of knowledge sharing in materials science, physics and chemistry; by solidifying the state-of-the-art understanding in nanoelectronics and by applying bottom-up nanoengineering approaches via an international and inter-sector collaboration of highly qualified researchers from Portugal, France, Finland, Ukraine and Belarus. Both technological (nanoelectronic device fabrication) and fundamental (charge transport mechanisms) issues will be assessed by this multidisciplinary consortium.The successful realization of this project will lead to scientifically substantiated principles for the development of a new generation of functional materials and, consequently, to the creation of advanced nanoelectronic devices.Within the HUNTER project, the consortium will implement research/innovation activities by means of functional secondments and organizing training courses, workshops and summer schools aimed at sharing knowledge, acquiring new skills and developing the careers of the consortium members. Sharing the culture of research and innovation, the HUNTER project will allow applying recent advancements in nanotechnology and materials science to the realization of the creative idea of Nikola Tesla (1932) of “capturing electricity from the air”. This vision will be performed in practice by innovative “humidity-to-electricity” devices, which will enhance the range of known renewable energy sources by a new atmospheric humidity source.