This would be passive and solid state.
Except we know that is impossible from simple thermodynamics, so there's no point in contemplating this "what if".
Have you done any work with this material?
No, but I don't need to work on a perpetual motion machine to know that it doesn't work.
My question would be do you have enough experience to know that it is a perpetual motion machine. I read the article and nothing sounds like perpetual motion to me. The atmosphere is always dynamic and my reading of the article was that it is using 2 different changes to harness these changes. Surface tension and atmospheric pressure seem to be the mechanisms.
I was trying to figure out if your comment was informed.