Enhancement of the voltage output of droplet electricity generators using high dielectric high-entropy oxide composites

Abstract

Droplet electricity generators (DEGs) offer a promising solution in renewable energy applications and environmental concerns, but are restricted by their low voltage output. To overcome this challenge, we built polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) doped high-entropy oxide materials (HEOs) as the intermediate layer composite material for DEG (HP-DEG), successfully achieving 420 V of high voltage output and 0.23 mA of current output. The excellent voltage and current output can be attributed to the high entropy effect and strong charge trapping ability of the HEOs@PDMS intermediate layer material, which provides a guarantee for effectively reducing charge decay and thereby increasing the voltage output of DEGs. In addition, the study conducted a systematic analysis of the interface physical and chemical characteristics, solid–liquid interface equivalent circuit equation, and electrical output behavior, exhibiting an important theoretical basis and experimental verification for a deep understanding of the interface-switching effect mechanism in HP-DEG power generation. Based on the excellent performance of the above materials and HP-DEG, we applied HP-DEG to energy collection, demonstrating a comparable energy collection performance with DEG. Subsequently, an HP-DEG based bacterial DNA detection sensor and a bacterial DNA-early warning system were developed, achieving a highly sensitivity of 0.01 nM with a single droplet sample, providing new possibilities for the sample analysis of low-volume and high-sensitivity requests. We believe that the high-intensity breakthrough of HP-DEG voltage output will usher in a new era for DEGs in the fields of energy, environment, and biomedical diagnosis.