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Living Plant‐Hybrid Generators for Multidirectional Wind Energy Conversion
Author(s) -
Meder Fabian,
Thielen Marc,
Mondini Alessio,
Speck Thomas,
Mazzolai Barbara
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
energy technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.91
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 2194-4296
pISSN - 2194-4288
DOI - 10.1002/ente.202000236
Subject(s) - wind power , energy harvesting , wind speed , electricity , power station , renewable energy , environmental science , automotive engineering , triboelectric effect , energy (signal processing) , electrical engineering , engineering , materials science , meteorology , physics , quantum mechanics , composite material
The largest existing biological interface, the surface of living plants, as it stands is capable of converting mechanical energy into electricity based on a combination of contact electrification and electrostatic induction on the plant surface and its inner tissue. Herein, the first design strategies are reported for living plant‐based wind energy harvesting systems that use this effect and that are capable of harvesting simultaneously from multiple leaves of a single plant to upscale the energy output. This is the first study under outdoor‐relevant conditions in a controlled test environment that relates plant‐based energy conversion to wind speed and wind direction as well as parameters such as the environmental humidity. Increasing the wind speed not only leads to higher power but also low winds of 2 m s −1 and less can be converted into storable electricity. The plant‐hybrid generators are moreover capable of converting wind from multiple directions by exploiting the naturally multiplex leaf orientations and the plants can directly power light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) and a digital thermometer. The results draw attention to the opportunity to obtain living plant‐hybrid generators, e.g., for applications in constituting environmental sensor networks.