Collective Electricity Generation over the Kilovolt Level from Water Droplets
Collective behavior enables groups of organisms to achieve feats far exceeding individual capability. Inspired by this, we present a novel droplet-based electricity generator that leverages the collective dynamics of multiple water droplets to significantly enhance electrical output, achieving orders of magnitude improvement compared with single-droplet devices. It is revealed that grouped water droplets, although spatially separated, coordinate via charge exchange with a solid surface and external charge transfer. Consequently, the solid surface charge density is significantly enhanced, elevating the charge transfer. This collective effect readily generates peak voltages exceeding one kilovolt, sufficient for air ionization and nitrogen fixation, with potential applications in nutrient production. We anticipate that this collective strategy will significantly advance the design and applications of droplet-based hydrovoltaic devices.
Authors
- Jun Yin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3375-8160)
- Tao Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4868-7150)
- Yuxuan Yuan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6623-4905)
- Wanlin Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2302-8044)
- Zhuhua Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6406-0959)
- Xiao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8139-4192)
- Xuemei Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8303-8121)
- Jidong Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3955-5508)
- Wei Deng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9459-8151)
- Yufeng Zhu
- Kelan Zhang
Institutions
- Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nano Letters
- Published
- 2025-04-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c01064
- Citations
- 10
- Primary Topic
- Micro and Nano Robotics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 12.58
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
- Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
- Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities