A device that can simultaneously harvest energy from both the sun and wind might one day help generate power for "smart cities," researchers say.
Cities are growing smarter as networks of electronics help them monitor and control infrastructure and services. Ideally, these devices would be powered by renewable energy sources such as the sun and wind. Solar energy can come from rooftops and into even windows. However, large amounts of wind energy often gets wasted in cities—conventional wind turbines are usually not suited to urban areas because of their size.
Now scientists at the Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems and the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a flat device that can harvest energy from both the sun and wind at the same time. Instead of relying on wind to spin a rotor, the device instead makes use of the triboelectric effect, the same effect behind everyday static electricity. When two different materials repeatedly touch and then separate, the surface of one material can steal electrons from the surface of the other, building up charge.
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