Raindrop energy-powered autonomous wireless hyetometer based on liquid–solid contact electrification

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) can directly harvest energy via solid–liquid interface contact electrification, making them very suitable for harvesting raindrop energy and as active rainfall sensors. This technology is promising for realizing a fully self-powered system for autonomous rainfall...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microsystems & nanoengineering 2022-03, Vol.8 (1), p.30-30, Article 30
Main Authors: Xu, Chaoqun, Fu, Xianpeng, Li, Chengyu, Liu, Guoxu, Gao, Yuyu, Qi, Youchao, Bu, Tianzhao, Chen, Yuanfen, Wang, Zhong Lin, Zhang, Chi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/166/987
639/925/929/170
Arrays
Circuits
Current sources
Electrification
Energy
Energy harvesting
Engineering
Internet of Things
Liquid-solid interfaces
Nanogenerators
Open circuit voltage
Power management
Raindrops
Rainfall
Rainfall intensity
Short circuit currents
Short-circuit current
Signal monitoring
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Summary:Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) can directly harvest energy via solid–liquid interface contact electrification, making them very suitable for harvesting raindrop energy and as active rainfall sensors. This technology is promising for realizing a fully self-powered system for autonomous rainfall monitoring combined with energy harvesting/sensing. Here, we report a raindrop energy-powered autonomous rainfall monitoring and wireless transmission system (R-RMS), in which a raindrop-TENG (R-TENG) array simultaneously serves as a raindrop energy harvester and rainfall sensor. At a rainfall intensity of 71 mm/min, the R-TENG array can generate an average short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, and maximum output power of 15 μA, 1800 V, and 325 μW, respectively. The collected energy can be adjusted to act as a stable 2.5 V direct-current source for the whole system by a power management circuit. Meanwhile, the R-TENG array acts as a rainfall sensor, in which the output signal can be monitored and the measured data are wirelessly transmitted. Under a rainfall intensity of 71 mm/min, the R-RMS can be continuously powered and autonomously transmit rainfall data once every 4 min. This work has paved the way for raindrop energy-powered wireless hyetometers, which have exhibited broad prospects in unattended weather monitoring, field surveys, and the Internet of Things.
ISSN:2055-7434
2096-1030
2055-7434
DOI:10.1038/s41378-022-00362-6