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A fibrous hydroelectric generator derived from eco-friendly sodium alginate for low-grade energy harvesting

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Abstract

With the development of renewable energy technologies, the recovery and utilization of low-grade energy based on hydroelectric effect have drawn much attention owing to its environmental friendliness. Herein, a novel hydroelectric generator utilizing sodium alginate-graphene oxide (SA-GO) fibers is proposed, which is ecofriendly and low-cost. These fibers with a length of 5 cm and a diameter of 0.15 mm can generate an open circuit voltage (Voc) of approximately 0.25 V and a short circuit current (Isc) of 4 µA. By connecting SA-GO fibers in either series or parallel, this combination can power some electronic devices. Furthermore, these fibers enable the recovery of low-grade energy from the atmosphere or around the human body. Both experimental and theoretical analysis confirm that the directional flow of protons driven by water molecules is the main mechanism for power generation of SA-GO fibers. This study not only presents a simple energy transformation method that is expected to be applied to our daily life, but also provides a novel idea for the design of humidity electricity-generation devices.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Special Fund for Science and Technology Innovation of Jiangsu Province, China (No. BE2022022-3) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 2023YFB4203704).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of the Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China

    Feng Gong, Jiaming Song, Haotian Chen, Runnan Huang, Yuhang Jing, Peng Yang, Junjie Feng & Rui Xiao

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Hao Li

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  1. Feng Gong
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  2. Jiaming Song
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Correspondence to Hao Li or Rui Xiao.

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Gong, F., Song, J., Chen, H. et al. A fibrous hydroelectric generator derived from eco-friendly sodium alginate for low-grade energy harvesting. Front. Energy (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-024-0930-z

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