'producing electricity from a super chemical' if you have good knowledge of producing electricity please help!

Question

In my English story someone discovers a chemical that can produce electricity more effectively than any other chemical discovered without giving off pollution.

I need a method in which a chemical could produce electricity as/more effectively as any other method of producing electricity.

Can anyone with a better knowledge than me of creating electricity think of a way in which this would work?

This chemical can have any qualities (be magnetic, acidic- ect).

This chemical is entirely fictional.

Answer 1

I'm sorry; there is no way you can get electrical energy out of a system without having put at least as much chemical energy in to start with. This is a consequence of the law of conservation of energy.

Also, in the real world, when considering the pollution given off by a "clean" fuel, such as hydrogen or electricity, and most certainly by biofuels, we need to take take into account the pollution caused when they were generated.

Answer 2

A molten salt reactor (MSR) is a type of nuclear reactor where the primary coolant is a molten salt.

In many designs the nuclear fuel is dissolved in the molten fluoride salt coolant as uranium tetrafluoride (UF4). The fluid becomes critical in a graphite core which serves as the moderator. Many modern designs rely on ceramic fuel dispersed in a graphite matrix with the molten salt providing low pressure, high temperature cooling.

Answer 3

What I think of are:
using piezoelectric materials that produce electricity in response to mechanical pressure. Example: quartz
(More information on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piezoelectricity)

Also, "Nanogenerator" has been in the research field for years.
Example: zinc oxide nanowires which show a powerful piezoelectric effect http://www.technologyreview.com/Nanotech/16746/

using photosensitive material
Example: "nanoscale photovoltaics"
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071022161425.htm

Answer 4

If we could do that we would not be suffering the effects of global warming!