Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
Published September 11, 2023 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Low-grade wind-driven directional flow in anchored droplets

Creators

  • 1. Hebei University
  • 2. South China University of Technology
  • 3. Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • 4. City University of Hong Kong
  • 5. Zhengzhou University
  • 6. Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute
  • 7. University of Chicago
  • 8. University of Birmingham
  • 9. University of Hong Kong

Description

Low-grade wind with airspeed Vwind < 5 m/s, while distributed far more abundantly, is still challenging to extract because current turbine-based technologies require particular geography (e.g., wide-open land or off-shore regions) with year-round Vwind > 5 m/s to effectively rotate the blades. Here, we report that low-speed airflow can sensitively enable directional flow within nanowire-anchored ionic liquid (IL) drops. Specifically, wind-induced air/liquid friction continuously raises directional leeward fluid transport in the upper portion, whereas three-phase contact line (TCL) pinning blocks further movement of IL. To remove excessive accumulation of IL near TCL, fluid dives, and headwind flow forms in the lower portion, as confirmed by microscope observation. Such stratified circulating flow within single drop can generate voltage output up to ~0.84 V, which we further scale up to ~60 V using drop "wind farms". Our results demonstrate a technology to tap the widespread low-grade wind as a reliable energy resource.

Data availability

All study data are included in the article and/or supporting information.

Files

peng-et-al-2023-low-grade-wind-driven-directional-flow-in-anchored-droplets.pdf

Files (17.1 MB)

Name Size Download all
Article
md5:1bcc113f6c07e02274b1b4b177706741
2.1 MB Preview Download
md5:909612e9bd34d7c6225b82e328428fc5
14.9 MB Preview Download

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1073/pnas.2303466120
Other
oai:uchicago.tind.io:10343

Funding

University of Hong Kong
2201100473
Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province
E2020201035
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Modern Civil Engineering Technology
2021B1212040003
National Natural Science Foundation of China
22278401
National Natural Science Foundation of China
21890762
Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS
2021046
Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS
Y2021022

UChicago Information

Division(s)
Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering