Drinking-bird-enabled triboelectric hydrovoltaic generator

• DOI: 10.1016/j.device.2024.100318
• Publication Date: 2024-03-14T14:40:57Z
• Authors: Hao Wu; Huanxi Zheng; Xuezhi Qin; Yuankai Jin; Yang Li; Siyan Yang; Zhiran Yi; Shouwei Gao; Steven Wang; Zuankai Wang

The evaporation process involves the most significant amount of energy transfer on Earth. Various hydrovoltaic techniques have been proposed to convert into electricity, but they mainly rely streaming potential that suffers from limitations low voltage output. Herein, we report an alternative strategy for harvesting by using water latent heat and triboelectric effect. We use a natural, evaporation-driven engine inspired drinking bird toy slow-frequency motion then mechanical electricity via specialized nanogenerator featuring friction drag. Our drinking-bird generator (DB-THG) generates >100 V in natural environment. Using prototype DB-THG, power small electronics such as 20 liquid crystal displays, temperature sensors, calculators ambient conditions fuel.