Hydroelectric Cell

Water splitting without applying any external energy is very difficult. Around the world, research efforts have continued to split water by photocatalytic technique and by using electrolyzer etc. For the first time, water molecules have been adsorbed and dissociated into hydronium and hydroxide ions by specially processed lithium substituted magnesium ferrite at room temperature without using any external energy. The processed ferrite is nanoporous and oxygen-deficient to make it highly surface active to dissociate water at room temperature and generate current and voltage by applying two electrodes Zn and Ag to it.  

                        The hydroelectric cell is a green and clean energy source that generates current and voltage by dissociating water and providing hydrogen and nano zinc hydroxide particles. Hydroelectric Cell (HEC) has emerged as a potential candidate for generating energy by using water without any greenhouse and toxic emissions. It does not pose any disposal issues also, hence completely eco-friendly. The realization of the conversion of water into electricity at room temperature, without using any external energy or chemical, has been credited to an internationally acclaimed Indian scientist Dr. R. K. Kotnala. American and Indian patent for this invention has already been granted. On the path of “Make in India”, this is a unique invention that has rocked and shocked the whole world. This has been achieved by Dr. Kotnala and his research associate Dr. Jyoti Shah at CSIR-NPL. After untiring efforts of 13 years in the laboratory, such an un-imaginary water-driven cell is invented, which is truly “The Pride of India”. Starting with lithium-substituted magnesium ferrite, till now Hydroelectric cell has been fabricated with 28 diverse metal oxides and composites. The material used in the Hydroelectric cell is the heart of the device which is made oxygen deficient and nano-porous. The oxygen vacancies in the material act as active sites for the dissociation of water molecules on its surface, the process known as the chemi-dissociation of water. Above the chemi-dissociated layer, there are several physisorbed layers of water, on which the proton starts hopping popularly known as the Grotthus mechanism. When these hopping protons are trapped inside the nanopores, they create a strong electric field of the order of 10^4 V/cm sufficient enough to dissociate physisorbed water molecules into hydroxide and hydronium ions. These dissociated ions are collected at two dissimilar electrodes Silver and Zinc, thus generating electrical energy along with Zinc hydroxide and Hydrogen gas as byproducts. The hydroelectric cell is a potential alternative to the solar cell and fuel cell fulfilling a net Carbon zero goal.

Hydroelectric cell publications in highly reputed International journals

  1. Optimization of mesoporous magnesium ferrite hydroelectric cells for sustainable green electricity generation via Zirconium doping, Ishfaq Ahmad Parray, Jyoti Shah, RK Kotnala, Syyed Asad Ali, Ceramics International, 2024.
  2. Nanocomposite NBT-MFO for eco-friendly power generation: Self-sustainable hydroelectric cell, Monika Dhall, Satish Khasa, Ashima Hooda, Jyoti Shah, RK Kotnala, Ceramics International, 2024.
  3. A Sustainable and Regenerative Process for the Treatment of Textile Effluents Using Nonphotocatalytic Water Splitting by Nanoporous Oxygen-Deficient Ferrite, Abha Shukla, Jyoti Shah, Sunidhi Badola, Tuhin K Mandal, Ved V Agrawal, Asit Patra, Lalsiemlien Pulamte, Ravinder K Kotnala, ACS omega, 2024.
  4. Dielectric, Impedance, Magnetic and Magnetocapacitance Investigations in ferrite–manganite nanocomposites for Hydroelectric Cell applications, S Gaurav, RK Kotnala, S Shankar, AP Singh, Emergent Materials, pp 1-21, 2024.
  5. Strategic Enhancement of Oxygen Defects in ZnO from ZnS for Water Splitting to Generate Green Electricity by Hydroelectric Cell, Sunidhi Badola, Jyoti Shah, Anurag Gaur, Satish Khasa, D S Rawal, T K Mandal, A K Srivastava, R K Kotnala, Applied Materials Today, Elsevier, Vol.34 2023.
  6. Structural, optical and electrical behaviour of sodium-substituted magnesium nanoferrite for hydroelectric cell applications, Vivek Kumar, Rakesh Kumar Singh, Aniket Manash, Shashank Bhushan Das, Jyoti Shah & R. K. Kotnala, Applied Nanoscience, Springer, 2023.
  7. A Novel Device to Generate Green Electric Energy by Water Splitting at Room Temperature: Enhancing the Efficacy by Tuning Nickel Oxide Through Lithium Substitution, Rajiv Kashyap, Moondeep Chauhan, Jyoti Shah, R.K. Kotnala, Gurpreet Kaur, Ramesh
    K. Sharma, Materials Today Communications, Elsevier, Vol. 35, February 2023.
  8. Tailoring the physical properties of non‑molar potassium‑substituted magnesium ferrite nanomaterials and its applications in hydroelectric cell, Rakesh Kumar Singh, Dinesh Rangappa, Nishant Kumar, Jyoti Shah, Vivek Kumar, R K Kotnala, Applied Physics A, Vol. 129, Issue 1, Pg-1 to 16, 2023.
  9. Studies on structural and magnetic properties of nanoporous Li+ substituted MgFe2O4 nanomaterials for its application in hydroelectric cell with other areas of science & technology, Aniket Manash, Rakesh Kumar Singh, Vivek Kumar, Jyoti Shah, Shashank Bhushan Das, Singh Sonu Kumar, Nishant Kumar, R. K. Kotnala. Materials Today: Proceedings, Elsevier, January 2023.
  10. Tin oxide (SnO2) decorated reduced graphene oxide (rGO) based Hydroelectric Cell to generate large current, Aarti, Anurag Gaur, Prakash Chand, Jyoti Shah, RK Kotnala, ACS Omega, Vol. 7, Issue 48, Pages 43647-43656, September 2022.
  11. Dielectric and impedance studies of binary ZnO–CuO nanocomposites for hydroelectric cell application, I Maurya, T Gupta, S Shankar, S Gaurav, V Tuli, J Shah, RK Kotnala, Materials Chemistry and Physics, 126690, 2022.
  12. Development of Mg-doped hematite (α-Fe 2 O 3)-based hydroelectric cell to generate green electricity, Anurag Gaur, Jyoti Shah, RK Kotnala, Dinesh Kumar, New Journal of Chemistry, RSC, Vol. 46, Issue 44, Pages 21158-21166, October 2022.
  13. Studies on structural and optical behavior of nanoporous potassium-substituted magnesium ferrite nanomaterials, and their application as a hydroelectric cell, Aniket Manash, Rakesh Kumar Singh, Vivek Kumar, Shashank Bhushan Das, Singh Sonu Kumar, Nishant Kumar, Jyoti Shah, R K Kotnala, Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, Springer, Vol. 33, Issue 28, Pg. 22103-22118, October 2022.
  14. Enhanced Water Splitting by Strained Lithium-Substituted Nickel Ferrite Hydroelectric Cells, S Saini, KL Yadav, J Shah, RK Kotnala, ACS Applied Energy Materials 5 (7), 8178-8188, 2022.
  15. Effect of Li+, Mg2+, and Al3+ Substitution on the Performance of Nickel Ferrite-Based Hydroelectric Cells, S Saini, KL Yadav, J Shah, RK Kotnala, Energy & Fuels 36 (13), 7121-7129, June 2022.
  16. Red mud industrial waste translated into green electricity production by innovating an ingenious process based on Hydroelectric Cell, RK Kotnala, R Das, J Shah, S Sharma, C Sharma, PB Sharma, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 10 (2), 107299, 2022.
  17. Significant role of defect‐induced surface energy in water splitting to generate electricity by nickel ferrite hydroelectric cell, RK Kotnala, S Saini, J Shah, KL Yadav, International Journal of Energy Research 46 (5), 6421-6435, 2022.
  18. Lithium doped nickel ferrite for enhanced performance in hydroelectric cell, S Saini, K L Yadav, J Shah, RK Kotnala, Bulletin of the American Physical Society, 2022.
  19. ZnO nanoflakes self-assembled from the water splitting process using a hydroelectric cell, J Shah, A Shukla, M Kar, G Gupta, S Jain, RK Kotnala, Reaction Chemistry & Engineering 7 (8), 1836-1846, 2022.
  20. Highly Accelerated, Sustainable, Abundant Water Splitting at Room Temperature Generating Green Electricity by Sb-Doped SnO2 Hydroelectric Cell, J Shah, A Shukla, RK Kotnala, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 9 (45), 15229-15238, 2021.
  21. Nonphotocatalytic water splitting process to generate green electricity in alkali doped zinc oxide based hydroelectric cell, R Gupta, J Shah, R Singh, RK Kotnala, Energy & Fuels 35 (11), 9714-9726, 2021.
  22. Production of green electricity from strained BaTiO3 and TiO2 ceramics based hydroelectric cells, U Bhakar, A Agarwal, S Sanghi, J Shah, RK Kotnala, Materials Chemistry and Physics 262, 124277, 2021.
  23. Water splitting on the mesoporous surface and oxygen vacancies of iron oxide generates electricity by hydroelectric cell, J Shah, S Jain, B Gahtori, C Sharma, RK Kotnala, Materials Chemistry and Physics 258, 123981, 2021.
  24. Green energy generation by splitting water from nanoporous NiFe2O4 based Hydroelectric cell, S Saini, KL Yadav, J Shah, RK Kotnala, APS March Meeting Abstracts 2021, H71. 095, 2021.
  25. Defect-mediated ionic hopping and green electricity generation in Al2− xMgxO3-based hydroelectric cell, R Gupta, J Shah, R Das, S Saini, RK Kotnala, Journal of Materials Science 56 (2), 1600-1611, 2021.
  26. An efficient green energy production by Li-doped Fe3O4 hydroelectric cell, A Gaur, P Kumar, A Kumar, J Shah, RK Kotnala, Renewable Energy 162, 1952-1957, 2020.
  27. Electricity generation by splitting of water from hydroelectric cell: An alternative to solar cell and fuel cell, R Das, J Shah, S Sharma, PB Sharma, RK Kotnala, International Journal of Energy Research 44 (14), 11111-11134, 2020.
  28. Hydroelectric Cell Based on a Cerium Oxide-Decorated Reduced Graphene Oxide (CeO2–rG) Nanocomposite Generates Green Electricity by Room-Temperature Water Splitting, R Bhargava, J Shah, S Khan, RK Kotnala, Energy & Fuels 34 (10), 13067-13078, 2020.
  29. Lithium-substituted magnesium ferrite material based hydroelectric cell and process for preparation thereof, RK Kotnala, J Shah, US Patent 10,752,515, 2020.
  30. Nickel substituted oxygen deficient nanoporous lithium ferrite based green energy device hydroelectric cell, S Saini, J Shah, RK Kotnala, KL Yadav, Journal of alloys and compounds 827, 154334, 2020.
  31. Fabrication of a SnO2-Based Hydroelectric Cell for Green Energy Production, A Gaur, A Kumar, P Kumar, R Agrawal, J Shah, RK Kotnala, ACS omega 5 (18), 10240-10246, 2020.
  32. Colossal Humidoresistance Inducement in Magnesium Ferrite Thin Film Led to Green Energy Device Invention: Hydroelectric Cell, J Shah, R Gupta, RK Kotnala, Recent Advances in Thin Films, 389-411, 2020.
  33. Novel application of multiferroic compound for green electricity generation fabricated as hydroelectric cell, J Shah, KC Verma, A Agarwal, RK Kotnala, Materials Chemistry and Physics 239, 122068, 2020.
  34. Significance of interface barrier at electrode of hematite hydroelectric cell for generating ecopower by water splitting, S Jain, J Shah, NS Negi, C Sharma, RK Kotnala, International Journal of Energy Research 43 (9), 4743-4755, 2019.
  35. Application of Hydroelectric Cell for LED Lamp, SS Chauhan, A Gaur, RK Kotnala, 2019 Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies (i-PACT) 1, 1-3, 2019.
  36. Metal oxide based hydroelectric cell for electricity generation by water molecule dissociation without electrolyte/acid, RK Kotnala, R Gupta, A Shukla, S Jain, A Gaur, J Shah, The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 122 (33), 18841-18849, 2018.
  37. Environment-friendly mesoporous magnetite nanoparticles-based hydroelectric cell, S Jain, J Shah, SR Dhakate, G Gupta, C Sharma, RK Kotnala, The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 122 (11), 5908-5916, 2018.
  38. Invention of hydroelectric cell: a green energy groundbreaking revolution, RK Kotnala, J Phys Res Appl 2, 2-5, 2018.
  39. A facile non-photocatalytic technique for hydrogen gas production by hydroelectric cell, J Shah, S Jain, A Shukla, R Gupta, RK Kotnala, International journal of hydrogen energy 42 (52), 30584-30590, 2017.
  40. Rapid green synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles using a hydroelectric cell without an electrolyte, J Shah, RK Kotnala, Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids 108, 15-20, 2017.
  41. Colossal humidoresistance inducement in magnesium ferrite thin film led to green energy device invention: hydroelectric cell, RK Kotnala, Proceedings of the seventeenth international conference on thin films: abstracts, 2017.
  42. Green hydroelectrical energy source based on water dissociation by nanoporous ferrite, RK Kotnala, J Shah, International Journal of Energy Research 40 (12), 1652-1661, 2016.

Research publications on Humidity Sensing by Magnesium Ferrite – the base material for Hydroelectric Cell

  1. Resistive type humidity sensor based on porous magnesium ferrite pellet, RK Kotnala, J Shah, H Kishan, B Singh, US Patent 9,671,359, 2017.
  2. Colossal humidoresistance in ceria added magnesium ferrite thin film by pulsed laser deposition, RK Kotnala, J Shah, R Gupta, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 181, 402-409, 2013.
  3. Linear resistivity response with relative humidity of Gd doped magnesium ferrite, J Shah, AG Joshi, RK Kotnala, Sensors & Transducers 144 (9), 143, 2012.
  4. Humidity sensing exclusively by physisorption of water vapors on magnesium ferrite, J Shah, RK Kotnala, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 171, 832-837, 2012.
  5. Influence of annealing on humidity response of RF sputtered nanocrystalline MgFe2O4 thin films,RK Kotnala, J Shah, MC Mathpal, KC Verma, S Singh, Thin Solid Films 519 (18), 6135-6139, 2011.
  6. Significant increase in humidity sensing characteristics of praseodymium doped magnesium ferrite, J Shah, M Arora, LP Purohit, RK Kotnala, Sensors and Actuators A: Physical 167 (2), 332-337, 2011.
  7. Study of humidity sensing property of LiCe substituted magnesium ferrite, RK Kotnala, J Shah, MC Mathpal, D Gupta, LP Purohit, H Kishan, Sensor Letters 7 (6), 1051-1056, 2009.
  8. Role of modified active surface sites of magnesium ferrite for humidity sensing, RK Kotnala, J Shah, MC Mathpal, D Gupta, LP Puohit, Journal of optoelectronics and advanced materials 11 (3), 296-301, 2009.
  9. Humidity response of Li-substituted magnesium ferrite,RK Kotnala, J Shah, B Singh, S Singh, SK Dhawan, A Sengupta, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 129 (2), 909-914, 2007.
  10. Microstructure-dependent humidity sensitivity of porous MgFe2O4–CeO2 ceramic, J Shah, RK Kotnala, B Singh, H Kishan, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 128 (1), 306-311, 2007.
  11. Linear Resistivity Response with Relative Humidity of Gd Doped Magnesium Ferrite,S Jyoti, AG Josh, RK Kotnala.

Book Chapters on Hydroelectric cell

  1. Hydroelectric Cell: (An Alternative to Solar Cell and Fuel Cell for Masses); R.K. Kotnala, Jyoti Shah; Handbook of Magnetic Materials, Comprehensive Energy Systems, Elsevier, 10.1016/B978-0-12-809597-3.00219-4, (204-234), 2018.
  2. Colossal Humidoresistance Inducement in Magnesium Ferrite Thin Film Led to Green Energy Device Invention: Hydroelectric Cell; Jyoti Shah, Rekha Gupta,  R. K. Kotnala; Recent Advances in Thin Films, Springer, 10.1007/978-981-15-6116-0_13, 389-411, 2020.
  3. Ferrites as an Alternative Source of Renewable Energy for Hydroelectric Cell; Mohan Chandra Mathpal, Gopal Niraula, Promod Kumar, Mahesh Chand, Manish Kumar Singh, Surender K. Sharma, Maria A. G. Soler & H. C. Swart; Spinel Nanoferrites. Topics in Mining, Metallurgy and Materials Engineering. Springer, Cham. (2021).
  4. Green Energy Applications of Hematite (α-Fe2O3), Magnetite (Fe3O4), and Maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) Nanoparticles Based Hydroelectric Cell; Kuldeep Chand Verma and Navdeep Goyal; Intech Open, September 2022.

Patents granted to Hydroelectric Cell

US patent US10752515 (2020) :  Lithium-substituted magnesium ferrite material-based hydroelectric cell and process for preparation thereof.

Indian patent 792/DEL/2015

Special recognition of Hydroelectric cell

Dr. Kotnala & Dr. Jyoti Shah have been honored with the Renewable Energy India Award 2018. The hydroelectric cell was selected for Special recognition as the best green energy source and an innovative product in Renewable Energy technology.