Chinese scientists have developed an innovative device that converts the friction between car tires and road surfaces into clean electricity, offering a new way to harness wasted energy.
Known as the roadbed tribological energy harvester (RTE harvester), the device taps into a largely overlooked energy source—tire-road friction—which accounts for part of the estimated 85% of vehicle energy lost to heat. Globally, this friction represents an energy potential of about 0.3 terawatts annually, equal to the output of 30 Three Gorges Dams.
Researchers from the Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems (BINN), under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, embedded an energy-collecting system within the roadbed. It can generate a peak power of 16.4 milliwatts from a single tire strike and boasts an energy conversion efficiency of 11.7%.
The device consists of a freestanding layer triboelectric nanogenerator array, engineered to function reliably in temperatures ranging from -40 to 60°C and in varying humidity levels, making it suitable for deployment worldwide.
With a cost of only $71.3 per square meter, the harvester is considered a cost-effective option for integrating into extensive road networks.
It can support intelligent transport systems by powering speed and weight monitoring devices independently of external electricity sources, thereby improving road safety and traffic management.
Just a 50-meter stretch of road equipped with the harvester can supply sufficient power for traffic lights, surveillance cameras, and other infrastructure along a one-kilometer road segment.
According to co-authors Wang Zhonglin and Chen Baodong, this breakthrough not only enables efficient RTE harvesting but also supports the development of vehicle-to-road, vehicle-to-infrastructure, and broader intelligent transport systems.
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