A groundbreaking approach to electricity generation has been introduced by a team of researchers from Tsinghua University in China. They have harnessed the energy from raindrops using solar panel technology, presenting a novel method for sustainable power generation.
As the world strives to shift away from fossil fuels, exploring new methods to harness renewable energy sources is essential. Raindrops falling from the sky carry kinetic energy that, in theory, can be captured and converted into usable electricity.
Science behind
Their approach involves a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) that generates electrification from liquid-solid contact. While droplet-based TENGs (D-TENGs) previously faced limitations, the researchers successfully overcame these hurdles by employing solar panel bridge arrays.
When raindrops touch the D-TENG panel’s surface (FEP surface), the droplet gains a positive charge, and the surface becomes negatively charged.
This advancement opens up promising possibilities for scalable raindrop energy harvesting.
In addition to its application with raindrops, this technology can successfully harvest energy from waves and other forms of liquid-solid triboelectric power generation. The versatile triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with solar panel bridge arrays shows great promise for sustainable and renewable electricity generation.
This discovery offers new possibilities for harnessing renewable energies, particularly in regions with frequent and prolonged rainfall. The use of solar panel technology to harvest electricity from raindrops provides a sustainable solution for power generation in such areas.
The research findings were published in the journal iEnergy.
