Walking-induced electrostatic charges enable in situ electroporated disinfection in portable water bottles

Direct in situ disinfection in portable water bottles could serve as the last line of defence for ensuring safe drinking water, especially in rural and disaster-stricken areas. However, limited disinfection technologies are available for this decentralized application due to the requirements of chemical inputs, a reliable energy supply and/or complicated modular constructions. Here we realized efficient in situ disinfection in a portable water bottle by directly harvesting the electrostatic charges induced by walking to stimulate electroporation. We fabricated a flexible non-metallic polypyrrole electrode with densely and uniformly distributed nanorods through nanopatterning and pasted it into a compact water bottle. Walking-induced electrostatic charges on the body surface can flow through a low-resistance path and accumulate on the nanorod tips to enhance local electric fields. These accumulated charges are sufficient to stimulate electroporation to realize the complete disinfection (>99.9999% inactivation) of a broad spectrum of microorganisms in a 500-ml water bottle within 10 minutes of walking. The development of direct in situ disinfection methods in bottles is of vital importance for providing safe drinking water, especially in rural and disaster-stricken areas. Harvesting the electrostatic charges induced by walking can stimulate electroporation disinfection and provide readily available portable water for point-of-use applications.