Ultra-robust triboelectric nanogenerator for harvesting rotary mechanical energy
Published in Nano Research, 2017
Recommended citation: Xinyu Du, Nianwu Li, Yuebo Liu, Jiaona Wang, Zuqing Yuan, Yingying Yin, Ran Cao, Shuyu Zhao, Bin Wang, Zhong Lin Wang, and Congju Li, "Ultra-robust triboelectric nanogenerator for harvesting rotary mechanical energy", Nano Res. 11(5), 2862-2871 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1916-5
Abstract
Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) for harvesting rotary mechanical energy are mostly based on in-plane sliding or free-standing mode. However, the relative displacement between two contacting triboelectric layers will cause abrasion, which lowers the output power and reduce the service life. It is important to develop a method to minimize abrasion when harvesting rotary mechanical energy. Here we report a scale-like structured TENG (SL-TENG), in which the two triboelectric layers work in contact-separation mode to avoid the in-plane relative sliding in order to minimize abrasion. As a result, the SL-TENG shows outstanding robustness. The output voltage does not exhiit measurable decay after continuously generating more than 1 million cycles. The SL-TENG can generate a maximum short-circuit current of 78 μA, delivering instantaneous power density of 2.54 W/m2 to external load at a very low rotation rate of 120 rpm. A discharge capacity of 0.1 mAh is achieved after a 30 min charging of an Li-ion battery by SL-TENG. A continuous d.c. output of 5 V is achieved by using a power management circuit, which provides enough d.c. power for driving a radio-frequency (RF) wireless sensor and other conventional electronics.