Multisource Energy Harvester on Textile and Plants for Clean Energy Generation from Wind and Rainwater Droplets

Abstract

Distributed, clean, and sustainable energy solutions are needed to power sensor networks in applications such as the Internet of Things, digital agriculture, forests, smart homes, etc. Despite exploring various energy harvesters, their outputs achieved thus far are insufficient for driving low-power electronics in many of the abovementioned emerging applications. Herein, we present a textile-based multisource energy harvester, which can generate electricity from two clean energy sources, namely, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and droplet-based electricity generator (DEG). The materials for the energy device are carefully selected, and their physical properties are tuned for higher energy output, primarily considering the following criteria: (i) maximum difference in the electron affinities, (ii) surface texturization, and (iii) hydrophobicity. The device mimics the water-repellent behavior of the lotus leaves (“lotus effect”) to achieve a highly hydrophobic textile surface and enhance the output power. The optimized TENG part of the device generates 252 V and 57.6 μA during contact mode mechanical excitations and the DEG produces high output voltage and current of 113 V and 67 μA from waterdrops. Finally, the real-life application of the presented multisource energy harvesters is demonstrated by designing them as leaves of a synthetic plant, harvesting energy from wind and rain droplets to power light-emitting diodes.