When I made several low-effort/low-tech tests a while back, liquid(+electrolyte) or even just moisture in the gap was what made the voltage appear in my case. Thin transparent plastic wrap would make the effect entirely disappear. I concluded that I wasn't seeing a LEC effect in my case.
This is almost everyone's initial knee-jerk reactions. Please look further into there protocols as they now completely eliminate that through heating.
There is an ionizing effect of some sort that can't really be explained easily.
That's what makes it such a interesting experiment is it's like a puzzle game of where does the energy come from?
For everyone else regarding the LEC.
To sort out what improves or diminishes the current density of the cells is a challenging curiosity as there are so many variables.
In manufacturing to optimize utility, safety, and efficiency with many sets of variables, we use an Orthogonal Array with a voting system the team uses.
In this case we would need to establish a control that all experimenters use and create a point scoring system.
It is so serendipitous because this video Factory Optimization just came out today and it made me think immediately of the LEC.
I had assumed that most scientists know about this way of collecting data, but the video from a great YouTuber made me reconsider my assumptions,
which happens probably more than care to admit.... 😅