Efficiency optimization for large-scale droplet-based electricity generator arrays with integrated microsupercapacitor arrays

Zheng Li, Shiqian Chen, Yujie Fu and Jiantong Li ()
Additional contact information
Zheng Li: School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Shiqian Chen: School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Yujie Fu: School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Jiantong Li: School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Droplet-based electricity generators are lightweight and nearly metal-free, making them promising for hydraulic power applications. However, two critical challenges hinder their practical application: significant performance degradation, potentially up to 90%, in existing small-scale integrated panels, and low efficiency, often less than 2%, in storing the irregular high-voltage pulsed electricity produced by large-scale arrays. Here, we demonstrate that by tailoring the bottom electrodes so that their area is comparable to the spread area of the impinging water droplets, we double the average output power of individual cells and fabricate large-scale (30-cell) arrays that achieve approximately 2.5 times higher power than state-of-the-art arrays. Furthermore, without using any power management chip, we integrate a large-scale (400-cell) micro-supercapacitor array to store the irregular high-voltage electricity produced by the 30-cell generator array at an efficiency of 21.8%. The integration of large-scale electricity generator arrays and micro-supercapacitor arrays forms a simple, chipless, self-charging power system with an output power of 81.2 μW, which is 27 times higher than current systems based on 30-cell arrays. This work provides important insights towards practical applications of droplet-based electricity generators.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64289-y Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-64289-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-64289-y

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().