Interface Engineering for Efficient Raindrop Solar Cell

A raindrop solar cell can work either on rainy days to collect mechanical energy of the raindrops or on sunny days to harvest solar energy, which achieves high energy conversion efficiency in various energy environments. However, the low efficiency of raindrop energy harvesting is a dominating barrier to the raindrop solar cells in practical applications. In this work, a MoO3/top electrode-based triboelectric nano-generator (MT-TENG) with high rain droplet energy conversion efficiency, integrated with a perovskite solar cell through shared electrodes, has been proposed. The interface electrons between the triboelectric layer and electrode can be blocked by the MoO3 layer with high permittivity and wide bandgap, and the MoO3-based TENG (M-TENG) therefore increases the surface charge density. Thus, the top electrode structure in the solid-liquid interface can greatly increase the output charge by 101.1 times in total. By adjusting the water droplet parameters of tap water to simulate the actual application scenario, the raindrop output power and mechanical energy conversion efficiency can reach 0.68 mW and 12.49%, respectively. In addition, due to the high transmittance of the MT-TENG, the perovskite solar cell can still sustain a high photovoltaic power conversion efficiency of 19.38%. By virtue of the shared electrode circuit design, the raindrop solar cell can continue to purvey electric power on rainy and sunny days, and it only takes about 175 s to charge a 2.2 mu F capacitor to 5 V.

Automated summary

The raindrop solar cell can collect both mechanical energy from raindrops and solar energy, achieving high energy conversion efficiency. This study proposes a triboelectric nano-generator with high rain droplet energy conversion efficiency, integrated with a perovskite solar cell through shared electrodes. By adjusting the water droplet parameters, the raindrop output power and mechanical energy conversion efficiency reach 0.68 mW and 12.49%, respectively.