Leaf-based energy harvesting and storage utilizing hygroscopic iron hydrogel for continuous power generation
In the era of big data, developing next-generation self-powered continuous energy harvesting systems is of great importance. Taking advantage of fallen leaves' specific structural advantage gifted by nature, we propose a facile approach to convert fallen leaves into energy harvesters from ubiquitous moisture, based on surface treatments and asymmetric coating of hygroscopic iron hydrogels. Upon moisture absorption, a water gradient is established between areas with/without hydrogel coating, and maintained due to gel-like behaviors and leaf veins for water retention and diffusion restriction, thus forming electrical double layers over the leaf surface and showing capacitance-like behavior for energy charging and discharging. Besides, the specific leaf cell structures with small grooves enabled uniform carbon coatings instead of aggregations, and high electrical conductivity, resulting in 49 μA/cm<sup>2</sup> and 497 μW/cm<sup>3</sup> electrical output, achieving competitive performance with the state-of-art and potential for lower environmental impact compared to other types of energy harvesters.
Authors
- Zuankai Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3510-1122)
- Zhen Yu
- Lin Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3262-5323)
- Yuanzheng Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5467-536X)
- Swee Ching Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2074-8385)
- J. Justin Koh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5889-288X)
- Yuan Ping Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2190-2284)
- Stefaan De Wolf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1619-9061)
- Wenshuai Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4428-1505)
- Shuai Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-3700-0926)
- Yaoxin Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8082-1727)
- Peng Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0348-5405)
- Siqi Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1651-4713)
- Cunjiang Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0155-0368)
- Wanxin Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6925-0177)
- Xuanchen Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6501-1005)
- Geyu Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1958-2867)
- Ming Dai
- Hongbo Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9678-8909)
Institutions
- Agency for Science, Technology and Research (SG)
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Chongqing University (CN)
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Jilin University (CN)
- State Key Laboratory on Integrated Optoelectronics (CN)
- Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté (FR)
- Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (SG)
- Singapore Clinical Research Institute (SG)
- Northeast Forestry University (CN)
- Southwest Jiaotong University (CN)
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (SA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-06-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60341-z
- Citations
- 100
- Primary Topic
- Energy Harvesting in Wireless Networks
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 73.04
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology