Achieving ultra-stable and superior electricity generation by integrating transistor-like design with lubricant armor

Extensive work have been done to harvest untapped water energy in formats of raindrops,flows,waves,and others.However,attaining stable and efficient electricity generation from these low-frequency water kinetic energies at both individual device and large-scale system level remains challenging,partially owing to the difficulty in designing a unit that possesses stable liquid and charge transfer properties,and also can be seamlessly integrated to achieve preferential collective performances without the introduction of tortuous wiring and redundant node connection with external circuit.Here,we report the design of water electricity generators featuring the combination of lubricant layer and transistor-like electrode architecture that endows enhanced electrical performances in different working environments.Such a design is scalable in manufacturing and suitable for facile integration,characterized by significant reduction in the numbers of wiring and nodes and elimination of complex interfacing problems,and represents a significant step toward large-scale,real-life applications.

Bioinspired Topological Surfaces for Mitigating Water,Thermal and Energy Crises

CONSPECTUS:The remarkable advances in technical and industrial fields have stimulated the world’s economic prosperity and population growth while also exacerbating the global water,thermal,and energy crises.To mitigate these crises,numerous large-scale devices have been constructed to harvest water,dissipate heat,and generate energy,yet they still encounter several bottlenecks,such as bulky size and climatic and/or geographic constraints.In contrast,miniature and portable water-based devices have demonstrated their tremendous potential in water harvesting and thermal/energy management due to the ubiquitous existence,large phase-change latent heat,and abundant kinetic energy of water.Owing to the strong dependence of their performance on the interfacial interactions between water and a surface,designing novel surface topology,in both physical and chemical aspects,is of practical importance to impart them with the ability to control the interfacial interaction/exchange among water,heat,and energy in an efficient,precise,and programmable manner.