2024-01-20 05:15:56
Solar panels generate electricity from sunlight, and wind turbines generate electricity from the wind. However, since each type of appliance depends on a single source, it only works when that source is available. For example, solar panels do not work at night, and wind turbines do not work if there is no wind. This has led some scientists to propose the development of technology that allows energy to be captured from different renewable sources in a single device.
A team, including Guanbo Min, from the Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems in China, and Ravinder Dahiya, from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, has begun to explore the feasibility of launching practice of such systems. For now, it has not combined solar energy with wind, but rather wind energy with the impact of rainwater drops.
The team built two different types of energy-harvesting devices: a triboelectric nanogenerator to capture kinetic energy from the wind, and a droplet-powered generator to harvest energy from falling raindrops.
The triboelectric nanogenerator consists of a layer of nylon nanofibers sandwiched between layers of polytetrafluoroethylene, more commonly known as Teflon™, and copper electrodes. When the layers are pressed together, static charges are generated and converted into electricity.
The team also used Teflon to make the generator powered by the energy of the droplets, which was waterproofed and covered with a conductive fabric to act as electrodes. When raindrops hit one of the electrodes, a charge imbalance occurs, generating a small current and a high voltage.
Under optimal conditions, the triboelectric nanogenerator produced 252 volts and the droplet-powered generator produced 113 volts, but only for short periods of time.
The team mounted the droplet-powered generator on top of the triboelectric nanogenerator and incorporated leaf-shaped versions into an artificial plant. When the leaf-shaped generators were exposed to conditions that mimicked natural wind and rain, they powered 10 LED lights with brief flashes. According to the researchers, although the device tested is very small, it is feasible to manufacture larger scale versions.
Some of the leaves of this artificial plant, specifically the beige ones, are electrical generators that obtain their energy from raindrops and wind. (Photo: adapted from ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2024, DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c03620. CC BY)
The study is titled “Multisource Energy Harvester on Textile and Plants for Clean Energy Generation from Wind and Rainwater Droplets.” And it has been published in the academic journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. (Source: NCYT from Amazings)
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