The scientific community has long sought to develop a method capable of generating electricity through rain. Some of the existing proposals manage to do this, but none of them are effective enough to be considered a viable solution to apply in a real context. However, that may be about to change.
Recently, a group of researchers from the City University of Hong Kong created a generator that is capable of producing high voltages with rain energy. With this system, it is possible to generate up to 140V of electricity with just a drop: enough energy to light up to 100 LED lamps for a short time.
None of the previous solutions has been able to achieve these values. However, the structure based on a field effect transistor makes it possible.
The equipment created by the team of researchers has an aluminum electrode and an aluminum and tin oxide electrode. Both are covered with a layer of polytetrafluoroethylene (material used to coat non-stick frying pans, for example), which is a material with an almost permanent electrical charge. As soon as a drop of water touches the polytetrafluoroethylene surface, contact is established between the two electrodes and a circuit is created to help release stored electrical charges.
