Renewable Energy, Vol.125, 995-1002, 2018
Harvest rain energy by polyaniline-graphene composite films
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 mu A/droplet and 85.01 mu V/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. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.