A new way to generate electricity from water which could be used to power small electronic devices in the future has been developed by Canadian scientists. The researchers have harnessed what happens to water when it is pumped through tiny channels. "What we have achieved so far is to show that electrical power can be directly generated from flowing liquids in microchannels," said Professor Larry Kostiuk from University of Alberta. The team says its "electrokinetic" battery could be further developed to provide a clean, non-polluting power source that could eventually drive small devices such as mobile phones. But some experts in the field have cast doubt over its potential as a useful source of power.The research by Professor Kostiuk and colleague Professor Daniel Kwok is published by an Institute of Physics journal. It is said to be the first new method of generating electricity in over 150 years. The work is all to do with charge separation, and what happens to ions in liquids when they come into contact with a non-conducting solid. Its best first application might be in the field of micro-electronic mechanic systems, like labs which are being built on computer chips which require power The team created a glass block, two centimetres in diameter and three millimetres thick, containing about 400,000 to 500,000 individual channels. Thanks to a phenomenon called the electric double layer, when water flows through these 10-micron-diameter-wide channels, a positive charge is created at one end of the block and a negative charge at the other - just like a conventional battery. The prototype generated about 10 volts with a current of around a milliamp. This allowed the team to successfully power a lightbulb. The scientists stress their work is in its early stages. Full article over at BBC News.