Scientists from University of California, Los Angeles and McMaster University have invented a first-of-its-kind nanogenerator that can generate electricity using falling snow.
The thin device works by harnessing static electricity: positively-charged, falling snow collides with the negatively-charged silicone device, which produces a charge that’s captured by an electrode.
“You separate the charges and create electricity out of essentially nothing,” Richard Kaner, who holds UCLA’s Dr. Myung Ki Hong Endowed Chair in Materials Innovation, said in a press release.