Film-type rain energy converters from conductive polymer/PtCo hybrids.

Energy harvesting from nature is promising to address the issues of energy crisis and environmental pollution. In the current work, we present experimental realization of a category of film-type rain energy converters from conductive polymer (CP)/PtCo hybrids including polypyrrole (PPy)/PtCo, polyaniline (PANi)/PtCo and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)/PtCo to yield electricity in rainy atmosphere. The optimized CP/PtCo hybrid generates maximum current of 2.06 μA/droplet and voltage of 97.43 μV/droplet, respectively. Although this work is far from optimization, these film-type rain energy converters may markedly elevate signal values and further electricity outputs by being enriched electrons of film surface, and therefore make them possible to generate electricity in areas with abundant rainfall but insufficient solar energy resources, and power supply in the reefs and offshore navigation. The reasonable electricity performances extend our knowledge for all-weather electricity generation platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]