Researchers have developed a silicon solar cell that can harvest energy created from falling raindrops , according to an article published in Nature Nano . The researchers, from the Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM) and the Joint International Research Laboratory of Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow University, acknowledged that such devices have been built before, but that theirs is based on a new concept and improves on previous designs, which were bulky and complex to manufacture. Scientists from Jiangsu University Laboratory for Carbon - Based Functional Materials and Devices , the Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials and Soochow University improved previous efforts to develop the technology by combining a silicon heterojunction solar cell with a triboelectric nanogenerator ( TENG ) , while a polymer material , placed between the two transfers energy from the TENG to the solar cell .
Researchers have developed a silicon solar cell that can harvest energy created from falling raindrops , according to an article published in Nature Nano . Scientists from Jiangsu University Laboratory for Carbon - Based Functional Materials and Devices , the Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials and Soochow University improved previous efforts to develop the technology by combining a silicon heterojunction solar cell with a triboelectric nanogenerator ( TENG ) , while a polymer material , placed between the two transfers energy from the TENG to the solar cell .