Although most of our electricity still comes from nonrenewable resources like gas and oil, plenty of renewable resources (including solar and wind) are being used to generate more and more clean power. Recently, another renewable resource has been getting into the mix — wave energy is on the rise.
The idea behind wave energy is simple and has been around for decades. Waves generate a lot of mechanical energy with their constant movement, and that energy can be harnessed and converted into electricity. However, the specific technology that can be used to accomplish that is still being developed.
Now, researchers have made a major breakthrough that will allow the technology to operate much more efficiently, Tech Xplore reported.
The researchers published their findings in the journal ACS Energy Letters. They described how, by simply repositioning the electrode from the center of the wave energy harvesting device — called a liquid–solid triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) — to one of the ends, they were able to dramatically increase the amount of energy that could be harvested from each wave.
The TENG as it was previously constructed "is limited by low output power due to its low surface charge density and transfer efficiency," the study's authors wrote. However, the reconfigured TENG "not only boasts high output performance for harvesting low-frequency and high-entropy motion energy, but its output displacement current can also serve as a compact signal generator for underwater wireless communication."
According to the World Economic Forum, the International Energy Agency recently commented that "marine technologies hold great potential." However, "additional policy support for energy research, development, and demonstration is needed" for them to make a real contribution to reducing our reliance on dirty energy, which significantly contributes to unhealthy air quality.
This breakthrough sounds like exactly that kind of additional development. Considering how far wind and solar energy harvesting technology has come in a relatively short time, it's reasonable to believe that we could get significant amounts of power from ocean waves with further investment and development.
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the coolest innovations improving our lives and saving our planet.
Cool Picks
