Vietnamese Teenager Invents Water Purifier That Creates Electricity With No External Power Source

15 year old girl creates power generating water filter

Last week, True Activist published a story about a 15 year old who invented a shoe insole that creates electricity while you walk.  His device was a submission for this year’s “Google Science Fair” which features a number of brilliant inventions, many of which were created by teenagers and young children.
Another finalist in this year’s contest is 17-year-old Cynthia Sin Nga Lam from Australia, who also has an invention that creates electricity.  Her invention is a water purification system that does not require an external power source, but actually creates electricity of its own.
Her device, which she calls a Portable Photocatalytic Electricity Generation and Water Purification Unit, or H2Pro for short, produces both clean energy and fresh water at the same time.
She hopes that one day her invention can be used to bring water and electricity to people in remote, poverty stricken areas who are currently struggling to find access to these basic amenities.
Cynthia explained in her application that “The entire process only needs titania and light — no additional power source is required. However, hydrogen production is generally low since photoexcited electrons tend to fall back to the hole (i.e. photoinduced electron-hole combination.) Fortunately, it can be overcome by adding reductants, while some organic pollutants serve such purpose. Hence, I propose to combine the two mechanisms together to enhance the yield and lower the cost of hydrogen generation, meanwhile efficient water purification can also be achieved.”
Cynthia is among 15 finalists in the Google Science Fair, and regardless of who wins, this competition has generated a number of innovations that could radically improve the world.  In future articles we will explore some other amazing inventions that teenagers from around the world are creating.  Some of these inventions have been entered into this contest, while others are still waiting to be discovered.
Voting for the Google Science Fair begins on September 1st, and more information about the judging can be found at www.googlesciencefair.com
View Cynthia’s full report to see the science behind this invention!
http://www.trueactivist.com/teenager-invents-water-purifier-that-creates-electricity-with-no-external-power-source