TY - JOUR
T1 - Fully Biodegradable Water Droplet Energy Harvester Based on Leaves of Living Plants
AU - Wu, Hao
AU - Chen, Zefeng
AU - Xu, Guoqiang
AU - Xu, Jianbin
AU - Wang, Zuankai
AU - Zi, Yunlong
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the HKSAR The Research Grants Council Early Career Scheme (grant no. 24206919), the HKSAR Innovation and Technology Support Programme Tier 3 (grant no. ITS/085/18), The Chinese University of Hong Kong Direct Grant (grant no. 4055086), and the Research Grants Council Grant (no. 11213320).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2020/12/16
Y1 - 2020/12/16
N2 - Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have obtained soaring interest due to their capability for environmental energy harvesting. However, as a harvester for green energy, the frequent adoption of the hardly degradable plastic films is not desirable. Here, we report a fully biodegradable TENG (FBD-TENG) that all elements are made from natural substances, and the utilization of plastic materials is avoided. The leaf cuticle and the inside conductive tissue are utilized as the tribo-material and electrode for one part in the FBD-TENG, and water droplets are employed as the counterpart. By using water droplets to bridge the originally disconnected components into a closed-loop electrical system, we successfully collect energy from the droplet impact onto a plant leaf. The electricity generation phenomenon and the working mechanism of the FBD-TENG have been investigated. Five kinds of plants, as well as rain water droplets, are employed to demonstrate the wide availability of the proposed approach. This study provides a strategy to utilize the pervasively presented electrostatic charges in nature in an eco-friendly way.
AB - Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have obtained soaring interest due to their capability for environmental energy harvesting. However, as a harvester for green energy, the frequent adoption of the hardly degradable plastic films is not desirable. Here, we report a fully biodegradable TENG (FBD-TENG) that all elements are made from natural substances, and the utilization of plastic materials is avoided. The leaf cuticle and the inside conductive tissue are utilized as the tribo-material and electrode for one part in the FBD-TENG, and water droplets are employed as the counterpart. By using water droplets to bridge the originally disconnected components into a closed-loop electrical system, we successfully collect energy from the droplet impact onto a plant leaf. The electricity generation phenomenon and the working mechanism of the FBD-TENG have been investigated. Five kinds of plants, as well as rain water droplets, are employed to demonstrate the wide availability of the proposed approach. This study provides a strategy to utilize the pervasively presented electrostatic charges in nature in an eco-friendly way.
KW - biodegradable triboelectric nanogenerator
KW - electronic plants
KW - plant leaves
KW - triboelectric nanogenerator
KW - water droplet energy harvester
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097791059&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsami.0c17601
DO - 10.1021/acsami.0c17601
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 33264000
AN - SCOPUS:85097791059
SN - 1944-8244
VL - 12
SP - 56060
EP - 56067
JO - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
JF - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
IS - 50
ER -