Researchers discover a method to generate power from falling raindrops

According to Baoquan Sun, one of the researchers who invented the new device from Soochow University, their raindrop-powered solar panel add-on was created to squeeze even more electricity from panels where they are present. “Our device can generate electricity in any daytime weather,” he said. “In addition, this device even provides electricity at night if there is rain.”

Although they were not the first to create such a device, what the researchers made still counts as an innovation. Similar devices on solar panels have already been invented by other researchers, and they are known as triboelectric nanogenerators (Tengs). But the researchers managed to improve upon the current standard formula by coming up with something that is much simpler and also more efficient. They did this by making one of the polymer layers act as the electrode for both the solar cell and the Teng itself.