A completely different solution to harnessing wind and rain energy is being explored by scientists in Italy who have developed a system that can be integrated into plants and generate electricity from raindrops and wind gusts.

A new experimental device can generate enough electricity to power LED lamps and the system. The study was published Feb. 28 in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.

Researcher Fabian Meder studies biologically inspired soft structure robotics at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genoa. As the saying goes, a leaf-based energy production system can be especially useful in agriculture. or for remote crop management where self-powered sensors are required to monitor crop health and climate conditions.

The device, created by Meder and his colleagues, is an artificial sheet with a layer of silicone elastomer along the base, placed between the leaves of a real plant. “When the leaves move in the wind, the two surfaces touch each other and move apart again, creating static charges on the outer layer of the natural leaf and on our device,” Meder explains. “These charges are induced in the inner cell tissue of the plant, where they create a current. We can collect this current with an electrode inserted into the plant tissue.”

Some of the existing energy harvesters built into plants use a similar technique to generate electricity from the wind, but this research team has gone even further by developing a device to harvest energy from raindrops.

While a layer of silicone elastomer is placed along the artificial leaf to generate and collect static charges from rustling leaves, there is another layer of fluorinated ethylene and propylene (FEP) on its upper side. When raindrops fall on this top layer, they charge the surface, storing energy. When raindrops condense and spread over the surface of the sheet, the electrodes generate an electrical current.

In their study, the researchers integrated their artificial leaf system into an oleander and evaluated the energy harvesting potential under various rain and wind conditions. They found that one drop of water could instantly power up to 11 LED lights.

“The results showed that the device can collect wind and rain energy both separately and simultaneously, making it a multifunctional energy harvesting device or a self-powered sensor,” explains Barbara Mazzolai, Associate Director of the IIT Soft Robotics Laboratory. who also took part in the study.

She notes that current energy harvesting systems based solely on wind power tend to produce less electricity when their surfaces get wet. The researchers report that the new device can generate more electricity in rainy weather by using the top layer to collect energy from raindrops.

Based on the results of this study, the researchers believe that the performance of their artificial sheet can be improved by modifying the electrodes and materials.

“We have applied for a patent on the technology and are analyzing potential markets,” says Mazzolai. “However, some research is needed before we finalize the final product – for example, we want to thoroughly test systems outdoors and in highly variable wind and rain conditions.”

Source: IEEE Spectrum.