A robust all-inorganic hybrid energy harvester for synergistic energy collection from sunlight and raindrops
Xiaolan Liu, Peng Cui, Jingjing Wang, Wanyu Shang, Song Zhang, Junmeng Guo, Guangqin Gu, Bao Zhang, Gang Cheng, Zuliang Du
Abstract
Abstract As a new concept of the device, a hybrid energy harvester integrated with a water droplet triboelectric nanogenerator (WD-TENG) and a solar cell has been reported to convert raindrop energy and solar energy into electricity. However, organic triboelectric layers are usually utilized in previous studies that might be decomposed under long-term UV irradiation, resulting in degradation of the hybrid energy harvester. In this work, a fully inorganic hybrid energy harvester is demonstrated. Superhydrophobic SiO 2 film is introduced to the system as both the triboelectric layer of the WD-TENG and the anti-reflective layer of the solar cell, which could increase the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the solar cell from 15.17% to 15.71%. Meanwhile, WD-TENG with the SiO 2 triboelectric layer could collect energies from rain droplets. This superhydrophobic SiO 2 film could effectively reduce the dependence of the tilt angle for the WD-TENG and bring up self-cleaning performance for the hybrid energy harvester. Moreover, this fully inorganic architecture could enhance the stability of the hybrid energy harvester, making it a promising strategy in practical applications.