Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How superhydrophobic meshes boost liquid-solid nanogenerator output
By Ko YS et al.·2026·Department of Mechanical Engineering (Integrated Engineering Program), South Korea·View original on Europe PMC →
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Original publication title: Microdroplet Generation Using Superhydrophobic Meshes and Its Application in a Liquid-Solid Triboelectric Nanogenerator to Enhance Output Performance.
Plain-English summary
This study looked at a new way to improve the performance of a device called a liquid-solid triboelectric nanogenerator, which generates electricity from the movement of water droplets. Researchers used a special type of mesh that repels water to break larger droplets into many smaller ones. When a droplet hits this mesh, it creates more surface area, which helps increase the electrical charge produced. They found that using this mesh made the device produce over 11 times more voltage compared to using a single droplet without the mesh. Overall, this method significantly boosted the device's output.
Abstract
This study demonstrates a passive strategy for enhancing the output of liquid-solid triboelectric nanogenerators (L-S TENGs) using superhydrophobic meshes to induce microdroplet generation and regulate droplet charging. When a millimetric water droplet impinges on a superhydrophobic mesh, it fragments into microdroplets, leading to a substantial increase in the total liquid surface area. This surface-area amplification is directly correlated to the total droplet charge, which can be further tuned by selecting appropriate hydrophobic coating materials on the mesh. At an impact velocity of 2.58 m/s, the total liquid surface area increased by up to 4.06-fold, resulting in a 7.7-fold enhancement in total droplet charge compared with that in the no-mesh case. Consequently, the voltage output of the L-S TENG was significantly improved, reaching -0.329 V─more than an 11-fold increase relative to that generated by a single droplet without a mesh.
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Search related cases →Original publication on Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/41931656