Liquid flow-induced electricity in carbon nanomaterials

Simple-structured and efficient electricity generation technology offers potential for power supply of distributed electronics, sensors, and self-powered systems. Liquid flow-induced electricity generation in carbon nanomaterials has thus attracted great interest in the past few decades, and different flowing architectures have been reported including liquid flow outside carbon nanotubes, liquid flow over graphene, liquid flow inside carbon nanotubes, droplet flow over carbon nanomaterials and evaporation-driven flow in carbon nanomaterials. In this review, we summarized the current status of and recent progress in this novel electricity generation technology, including the basic phenomenon, underlying mechanisms and applied materials. We emphasized the discussion about differences and interconnections of different flowing architectures. Prospects for further mechanism revelation and performance enhancement are also proposed.