A technology has been created thanks to which one drop of water can light one hundred LED lamps

Scientists have managed to create a unique device with which you can get energy from falling water drops. Moreover, the efficiency of the device is sufficient for scientists to announce a new source of alternative energy.

Who developed the new device

A research group from Hong Kong (City University) announced that it had succeeded in creating a drip-based electric generator with a special field-effect transistor structure. The resulting product showed extremely high efficiency compared to similar devices without a field-effect transistor structure.

The scientific group has shared its results on the pages of the journal Nature.

Why do you need such a generator

Water is one of the most promising and underestimated energy sources. But so far (before the development of a new device), the kinetic energy of water was converted into electricity, to put it mildly, badly. Since there were objective technological obstacles. It was corny that there was no effective extraction technology.

So for a long time there have been so-called triboelectric drip generators, which produce electricity by friction of drops on various surfaces.

The scientific group has been solving the issue of increasing the efficiency of extracting energy from water for a couple of years, and they succeeded. So it was possible to achieve a specific power of 50.1 W / m2.

How the device was created

So, two important factors played in the creation of the product:

1. It was found that water droplets constantly falling on a material called polytetrafluoroethylene (you you know as Teflon), contribute to the effect of accumulation of generated surface charges up to the point saturation.

2. The second main factor is to create a unique generator element that consists of two electrodes: the first is made of ordinary aluminum, and the second is made of indium oxide tin, which is additionally coated Teflon (PTFE / ITO - electrode).

So the second electrode plays the most important role in the new device. Thanks to the original design, PTFE / ITO-electrode can accumulate surface charges with increased density.

When a drop of water falls on its surface and naturally connects two electrodes, thereby closing the system and creating all the prerequisites for the flow of electricity.

As laboratory tests have shown, a 100 μL water drop that falls from a height of 0.15 meters is capable of creating a voltage of 140 volts. And the power released in this case is quite enough to make 100 small LED lamps glow.

Prospects of invention

Basically, the kinetic energy of water is a renewable source of green energy that is independent of the sun and wind.

And similar generators can be installed in those places where the liquid has direct contact with solid surfaces (coastlines of rivers, seas, waterlines of ships, etc.).

It is hoped that the development will find its commercial application, and we will soon see such generators in action.

If you liked the material, then put your thumbs up and subscribe. Thank you for your attention!