SiC-based Nanogenerator Driven By Water Evaporation

With the development of science and technology,productivity and quality of life have been significantly improved.At the same time,the energy demand is also increasing,which result to a series of serious energy crisis and environmental pollution.Therefore,the development and utilization of new energy is extremely urgent.Although,solar energy,wind energy,hydropower and other clean energy technology are very mature,but its disadvantage such as huge investment for infrastructure,environmental constraints are also obvious.Therefore,people have focused on power generation using low-grade-energy like heat energy in the surrounding environment,the mechanical energy produced by human sports,kinetic energy of raindrop,and so on,because of its low cost and broad prospects for energy conversion technologyIn recent years,relevant research has developed rapidly.Researchers have used nanotechnology to increase the open-circuit voltage of devices from dozens of millivolts to more than 1V,and electronic devices have been successfully driven by nanogenerators.However,plasma treatment,chemical modification and other surface modification methods are generally used to improve the device performance,which lead to higher requirements for the experimental conditions,and chemical modification may dose harm to the health of the experimenter and natural environment.In addition,the low mechanical strength of devices,and the large cost of device are not conducive to industrial production for commercial applications.Herein,we report a SiC-based nanogenerator driven by water evaporation,which is characterized by low cost,simple process,environment friendly,and strong reliability.The porous silicon carbide film was prepared on the alumina substrate by knife blade,Electrical double layer(EDL)on the surface of SiC is an origin to power generation,when water flows in the nanochannel driven by thermal energy in environment.In fabricated process,we just immerse the device into water to activate the hydroxyl rather than traditional modification method,which is not only a simple and safe mean but also do not introduce other groups to enhance the performance of device.The device with membrane area of 3.5×1.6 cm~2 can generate an open circuit voltage of 0.45 V and a short-circuit current of 50 nA,which can maintain a stable performance for 8 months.We explored different electrode materials and annealing process.We also studied the factors which affect devices performance such as wind speed,temperature and so on.Our study provides theoretical and experimental support for the improvement of device performance.