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First we have to have some idea of what is needed. Does it need a plastic casing? Will it have electronics? Are there mechanical parts? Do they need to be metal or is plastic Ok? What kind of stress will it need to hold up to? Also, how much juice will it need to produce and does it need to be a sustained current or is a single jolt Ok? Of course you're going to have issues with things that are out of your control like humidity.
As for static electricity in general look up "Van der Graaf Generator" in your favorite search engine.
As for the patent bit, getting a lawyer to do the patent search, then file yours if it's clear is pretty expensive. The ones I've seen were anywhere from $10k on up. You can always do the poor man's patent. Write down your plans, make a photocopy, then mail them to yourself certified mail. When they come back don't open them. Now you have proof of what date you had the idea if you ever need to go to court. It's much harder to defend and odds are strong you'll have to sue since they will have done a patent search and didn't come up with anything.
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