Identification of Droplet-Flow-Induced Electric Energy on Electrolyte–Insulator–Semiconductor Structure

Recently, various energy transducers driven by the relative motion of solids and liquids have been demonstrated. However, in relation to the energy transducer, a proper understanding of the dynamic behavior of ions remains unclear. Moreover, the energy density is low for practical usage mainly due to structural limitations, a lack of material development stemming from the currently poor understanding of the mechanisms, and the intermittently generated electricity given the characteristics of the water motion (pulsed signals). Here, we verify a hypothesis pertaining to the ion dynamics which govern the operation mechanism of the transducer. In addition, we demonstrate enhanced energy transducer to convert the mechanical energy of flowing water droplets into continuous electrical energy using an electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor structure as a device structure. The output power per droplet mass and the ratio of generated electric energy to the kinetic energy of water drops are 0.149v2 mW·g-1·m-2·s2 and 29.8%, respectively, where v is the speed of the water droplet.