Fake plants are no longer boring additions to your home, as scientists have created small, leaf-shaped devices that harness wind and rain to generate electricity. A recent study published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering details these literal "power plants." The team tested these energy harvesters by incorporating them into artificial plants.
Nature can produce electricity in many ways. For example, solar panels convert light energy from the sun, and wind turbines convert the kinetic energy of moving air. But these methods often rely on a single source and therefore only work if that source is available. For example, solar panels don't work after sunset, and calm days don't produce much wind energy.
Recently, multi-source energy harvesters have emerged as a method to harvest energy from different renewable energy sources in a single device, maximizing the potential output. So Ravinder Dahiya and colleagues wanted to create a multi-source energy harvester that could generate electricity from both wind and rain.
The research team built two different types of energy harvesters: a three-electric nanogenerator (TENG) to harvest kinetic energy from wind, and a droplet energy generator (DEG) to harvest energy from falling raindrops. The TENG consists of a layer of nylon nanofibers sandwiched between a layer of polytetrafluoroethylene (commonly known as Teflon™) and copper electrodes.
When these two layers of material are pressed against each other, static electricity is generated and converted into electrical energy. Polytetrafluoroethylene is also used to make DEG, which is waterproofed and covered with conductive fabric as electrodes. When a raindrop hits one of the electrodes, it causes a charge imbalance, which creates a small current and a high voltage. Under optimal conditions, the TENG can produce 252 volts and the DEG can produce 113 volts, but only for a short time.
The research team mounted the DEG on top of the TENG and integrated the leaf-shaped generator into the artificial plant. When these leaf-shaped generators are exposed to conditions that simulate natural wind and rain, they flash for short periods of time to power 10 LED lights. The researchers say this proof-of-concept "power plant" device could be further developed into a larger system or network of power plants to produce clean energy from natural sources.
Compiled source: ScitechDaily