Spruce-Inspired Collagen Fiber-Based Hydrovoltaic Devices for Continuous Power Generation

The continuous supply of clean energy is one of the major challenges faced by all mankind. In this work, combining the wisdom of the biology with hydrovoltaic electricity technology, the biomimetic hydrovoltaic devices that can provide continuous power generation are proposed. To achieve excellent power generation performance with large-scale applications, the leather collagen fibers (CF) bearing natural nano-/micro-channels and abundant oxygen-containing groups are employed as the matrix, which is then constructed as hydrovoltaic devices by Spruce isomorphic mapping strategy to solve the fatigue and insufficient stamina existing in the water evaporation process. The final products, collagen fiber-based hydrovoltaic devices (CFHD) gain an efficient energy output, exemplified by their Voc (0.58 V) approximately six times of that the collagen fiber-based evaporator (0.10 V). The six CFHD in series can obtain the Voc of 3.51 V and in parallel achieve the Isc of 30.63 μA. Combined with their excellent thermal stability, flexibility, applicability, low cost, convenient assembly, miniaturization, and all-weather power generation, the CFHD show great promise in outdoor power generation. Therefore, the present work aims to provide advanced hydrovoltaic power generation devices especially for energy scarcity areas to support their operation and development, and meanwhile actuate advancements in the green energy storage and conversion field.