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Stimulation of ambient energy generated electric field on crop plant growth

Nature Food volume 3, pages 133–142 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Eco-friendly technologies are of great significance to agricultural sustainability due to the environmental damage caused by agricultural activities. Here, we report a wind and rain energy-driven electrical stimulation system for enhancing crop production. The system is based on an all-weather triboelectric nanogenerator (AW-TENG), which is composed of a bearing-and-hair structured triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and a raindrop-driven TENG. Treated by the self-generated high-voltage electric field, the system can increase pea seeds germination speed by ~26.3% and pea yield by ~17.9%. By harvesting environmental wind and raindrop energy, the AW-TENG can be used to drive various agricultural sensors for optimizing plant growth. This work provides a fresh direction for self-powered systems in safe, efficient and eco-friendly agricultural production improvement and may profoundly contribute to the construction of a sustainable economy.

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Fig. 1: SESS for enhancing crop production.
Fig. 2: Structure and output performance of the BH-TENG.
Fig. 3: Germination promotion of the SESS.
Fig. 4: Growth acceleration of the SESS.
Fig. 5: Applications of the AW-TENG in self-powered agricultural sensing.

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Data availability

All relevant data are included in the article, Supplementary Information and in the Source Data files provided with this paper. All the other raw data are available from the authors on request.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Key R&D Project from Minister of Science and Technology (no. 2016YFA0202704), National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 52002028), National Science Fund of Excellent Young Scholars of China (grant no. 31922063), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (no. BX20190324, 2020M680650) and Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission (no. Z171100002017017). Experiments on plant phenotypes were supported by Beijing EcoTech Science and Technology Ltd, Ecolab. We also thank S. Dai for helpful assistance in experiments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Beijing Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Energy and Sensor, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Xunjia Li, Jianjun Luo, Kai Han, Xue Shi, Zewei Ren & Zhong Lin Wang

  2. College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Xunjia Li, Yibin Ying & Jianfeng Ping

  3. School of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Jianjun Luo, Kai Han, Xue Shi, Zewei Ren & Zhong Lin Wang

  4. State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment & System Security and New Technology, Department of Applied Physics, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

    Yi Xi

  5. School of Material Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Zhong Lin Wang

Authors
  1. Xunjia Li
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Contributions

J.L., J.P. and Z.L.W. conceived the idea. X.L., J.L. and K.H. designed and fabricated the device. X.L., J.L., X.S. and Z.R. carried out the pea planting, phenotype characterization and physical and chemical experiments. X.L., J.L. and X.S. performed the electrical measurement and Supplementary Videos. Y.X. and Y.Y. provided assistance with the experiments. X.L., J.L., J.P. and Z.L.W. wrote the manuscript. All the authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jianjun Luo, Jianfeng Ping or Zhong Lin Wang.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review information

Nature Food thanks Zhuangzhi Sun, Jianhua Hao and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–33 and Notes 1–11.

Reporting Summary

Supplementary Video 1

The detailed rotation situations of the traditional rotation-mode TENG under the simulated natural wind.

Supplementary Video 2

The detailed rotation situations of the BH-TENG under the simulated natural wind.

Supplementary Video 3

Nitrogen oxides generated by the AW-TENG induced microplasma discharge.

Supplementary Video 4

O3 generated by the AW-TENG induced microplasma discharge.

Supplementary Data 1

Statistical source data of Supplementary figures.

Supplementary Data 2

Statistical source data of Supplementary figures.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 2

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 3

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 4

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 5

Statistical source data.

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Li, X., Luo, J., Han, K. et al. Stimulation of ambient energy generated electric field on crop plant growth. Nat Food 3, 133–142 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00449-9

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