These values far surpass those previously reported for water evaporation power. The voltage, charge, and current output of the drinking bird triboelectric hydrovoltaic generator (DB-THG) were measured by using a programmable electrometer and a commercial temperature-controlled humidity chamber.
Moreover, they maintain that their DB-THG not only excels in voltage generation, but also delivers impressive power output. In an environment with a temperature of 25°C and a RH of ∼20%, it generates a maximum peak power of ∼40 μW. This power output is 13X higher than that obtained using a drinking bird engine and an electromagnetic generator in previous experiments.
The high output of their DB-THG enabled the team to effectively power small electronics using the natural energy from water evaporation in any ambient environment. They demonstrated that 20 liquid crystal displays (LCDs), sized at 26 × 31 mm, can directly be powered by the DB-THG. Furthermore, the electricity generated by the DB-THG can be efficiently stored in commercial capacitors, charging them to above 10 V within several minutes and a relatively larger capacitor of 1,000 μF is also charged to 1.5 V in 100 minutes.
The work is detailed in their paper “Drinking-bird-enabled triboelectric hydrovoltaic generator” published in Cell Press. This topic naturally lends itself to videos, and the posted paper has links to a several interesting ones. Also of note: The authors don’t imply that this harvesting arrangement is the solution to the world’s energy problems, which many other harvesting projects imply despite their low energy intensity and density.
References
1. University of California/Riverside, “What is a Dippy Bird, and how is it used?”
2. Stanford University, “The Force Driving the Crookes Radiometer.”
