Renewable Energy 2018-03-15

Harvest rain energy by polyaniline-graphene composite films

Yingli Wang, Jialong Duan, Yuanyuan Zhao, Benlin He, Qunwei Tang

Index: 10.1016/j.renene.2018.03.034

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Abstract

10.1016/j.renene.2018.03.034 picture

Rain energy harvest by a cost-effective technique is promising to increase renewable energy production. In this work, we demonstrate experimental realization of a category of film-type converter tailored with polyaniline (PANi) or PANi-graphene complex films to harvest rain energy. According to the charging/discharging processes of cation/electron pseudo-capacitances at rain/film interfaces, these converters produce maximized current and voltage of 3.80 μA/droplet and 85.01 μV/droplet, respectively. The resultant electricity outputs can be further enhanced by enriching electron concentration at the surfaces of these materials. Furthermore, these rain-enabled converters have good long-term stability under persistent stimulus by raindrops. This work may provide new opportunities of harvesting waste renewable energies from nature.