BEIJING -- A team of Chinese scientists has developed a groundbreaking device capable of converting the friction between vehicle tires and roads into clean electricity.

The device, called the roadbed tribological energy harvester (RTE harvester), presents a novel approach to harnessing a vast and previously untapped source of energy.

An estimated 85 percent of a car's energy is lost to heat and friction, with tire-road interaction alone holding an untapped energy potential of around 0.3 terawatts annually worldwide, equivalent to the yearly output of 30 dams of the Three Gorges project in China.

The researchers from Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems (BINN) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences crafted an energy collector embedded in the roadbed, capable of achieving a peak power output of 16.4 milliwatts from a single tire impact and achieving an impressive energy conversion efficiency of 11.7 percent.

The device, formed by a freestanding layer triboelectric nanogenerator array, is robust, operating stably across temperatures from minus 40 to 60 Degrees Celsius and varying humidity levels, making it suitable for diverse global climates, according to the study published recently in the journal Science Advances.

Its low cost, estimated at just $71.3 per square meter, makes it a highly viable solution for widespread adoption across extensive road networks globally.

Equipped with a self-powered intelligent and connected transportation system, the innovation can supply energy to devices that monitor vehicle speed and weight, enhancing road safety and management without relying on external power sources.

Deploying the harvester over a 50-meter section can meet the power needs of traffic lights, cameras and other facilities along a one-kilometer road.

This breakthrough offers a new approach to efficient RTE harvesting and distributed power supply, paving the way for the integration of vehicle-to-road, vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-everything systems, said the paper's co-corresponding authors Wang Zhonglin and Chen Baodong from the BINN.