Power from the sea? Triboelectric nanogenerator extracts energy from ocean waves
Monday, October 14, 2013 - 12:50
in Physics & Chemistry
(Phys.org) —As sources of renewable energy, sun and wind have one major disadvantage: it isn't always sunny or windy. Waves in the ocean, on the other hand, are never still. American researchers are now aiming to use waves to produce energy by making use of contact electrification between a patterned plastic nanoarray and water. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, they have introduced an inexpensive and simple prototype of a triboelectric nanogenerator that could be used to produce energy and as a chemical or temperature sensor.