The oxhydroelectric effect consists in the generation of voltage and electric current in pure liquid water, without any electrolyte, upon exposure to electromagnetic radiation in the infrared range, after creating a physical (not chemical) asymmetry in liquid water e.g. thanks to a strongly hydrophile polymer, such as Nafion.
[4][5][6][7][8] The system can be described as a photovoltaic cell operating in the infrared electromagnetic range, based on liquid water instead of a semiconductor.
The model proposed by Roberto Germano and his collaborators, who have first observed the effect [1][2][3] is based on the known concept of the exclusion zone.
Further elaborating on the work of Pollack, the model describes liquid water as a system made of two phases: a matrix of non-coherent water molecules hosting many “Coherence Domains” (CDs), about 0.1 um in size, found in the exclusion zone, but also in the bulk volume.
The two water phases, with their different potentials behave as the two components of a photovoltaic cell based on semiconductors.