Carbon anchored conducting polymer composite linkage for high performance water energy harvesters

Abstract

Water energy harvesters have received significant attention, due to wide distribution of water, simple device fabrication, and environmentally-friendly nature. Herein, we report a reliable water energy harvester by employing a composite that consists of synthesized micron-sized carbon as physical anchor, poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PSSA) as proton supplier, and polyacrylic acid/carboxymethyl cellulose (PAA/CMC) as network binder. Single energy harvester fabricated using slurry casting at low temperature shows electrical output performance with output voltage of 0.4 V and current of 0.45 mu A. Especially, the material combination enables both chemical and physical linkage and in turn, reliable electricity production was demonstrated, showing stable performance over 14 days without output degradation. Furthermore, the power level of energy harvesters was simply extended to drive commercial light emitting diodes (LEDs). Consequently, this approach introduced here is well-suited for developing a device with excellent electrical, structural, and chemical properties and the composite combination greatly broadens material choices that can be applied to develop sustainable water energy harvesters.