The planet's population is growing, we are gradually merging with technology deeper and deeper, and along with this, our need for electricity increases. Scientists, always occupied by the search for new sources of energy, have found a way with which they can extract electricity from the rain. The advantages are obvious: the rains occur naturally and in some places they almost never stop. The technology developed by scientists can light more than 100 LED bulbs from one drop.
Inside the post - more about the new technology that will enter our lives in 5 years.
Why is it good
Although we are still far from using an umbrella to power the entire home, the technology is extremely promising. If further developed, even at this stage, the technology will help alleviate our thirst for energy on a larger scale. Roughly speaking, if it rains in the city, it will not allow you personally to sit with all electrical appliances at maximum power all day for free. But this will be able to compensate for the costs of your house, summer house or area for such a fat piece.
Accordingly, rainy cities will consume less electricity, and electricity itself will become cheaper. In addition, this technology will definitely go to the private market and will be able to solve the main problem of solar panels - their inability to work without sunny weather. So by putting a couple of installations with rain and solar panels on the dacha in 10 years, people will be able to significantly reduce their energy costs. Moreover, any technology that makes it possible to extract electricity from natural conditions simplifies life outside the city, and this reduces the pace of urbanization.
Wang Quankai, a biomedical engineer at the City University of Hong Kong, said that a drop of 100 microliters of water (that is, 0.0001 liters of water), released from a height of 15 centimeters, can generate voltages in excess of 140 V, and the power generated by this can make 100 small LEDs work. -lamp.
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The flesh of technology
To squeeze the maximum power out of every droplet, the engineering team made some interesting decisions.
Chief among the tricks is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film, which can build up a surface charge if water is constantly dripping onto it. When water hits the surface, it connects the two electrodes. One of the electrodes is made of aluminum, and the other is made of an oxide of an alloy of indium and tin. The result is a closed surface on which the drops act as resistors, and the coating acts as a capacitor. The researchers explain that this approach can be applied in any situation where water hits a hard surface. For example, umbrellas, boat hulls, rooftops, water bottles, pipes, and so on.
“Rain power can be a reliable source of free, renewable electricity, as this technology significantly increases the electrical power of a falling raindrop. In fact, we take electricity from the kinetic energy that appears in the droplet due to the gravity of our planet. Says Xiao Cheng Zeng, a chemist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
