Lotus-inspired wood-based evaporation-driven electricity micro-generator

Evaporation-driven electricity generation has recently emerged as a promising strategy for harvesting ubiquitous ambient energy. Among various material platforms, wood-based evaporation-driven electricity generators have attracted growing attention owing to their aligned microchannels, intrinsic capillary transport capability, and sustainability. However, the electrical output of unmodified wood remains insufficient to meet the power requirements of practical microsystems. Here, inspired by the architecture of the lotus, we report a bioinspired wood-based evaporation-driven electricity micro-generator with enhanced performance. The hydrophobic micro-nano hierarchical structures of lotus leaves inspire the construction of a microstructured and fluorinated interface on the wood surface to enhance interfacial evaporation. Meanwhile, inspired by the vascular structure of lotus petioles, partial delignification is applied to the bottom region of the wood to enlarge pore channels and establish capillary-Laplace pressure gradients for accelerated water transport. In combination with poly(4-styrenesulfonic acid) (PSS) modification to regulate ionic transport, the resulting device exhibits an approximately 234% increase in output voltage compared with natural wood. Furthermore, assembled devices can be connected in series to charge conventional low-power electronic systems, demonstrating strong potential for autonomous Internet of Things (IoT) and off-grid micro-energy applications.