A high-efficiency bioinspired photoelectric-electromechanical integrated nanogenerator

Sicheng Liu; Xi Liu; Guilin Zhou; Fuxiang Qin; Mingxing Jing; Lin Li; Wenlong Song; Zhuangzhi Sun

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19987-0

A high-efficiency bioinspired photoelectric-electromechanical integrated nanogenerator

Nat Commun. 2020 Dec 2;11(1):6158. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-19987-0.

Authors

Sicheng Liu^{1

2}, Xi Liu^{1

2}, Guilin Zhou^{1

2}, Fuxiang Qin^{1

2}, Mingxing Jing^{1

2}, Lin Li³, Wenlong Song^{4

5}, Zhuangzhi Sun^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Province Key Laboratory of Forestry Intelligent Equipment Engineering, College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, 150000, Harbin, People's Republic of China.
² Key Laboratory of Bio-based Material Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, 150000, Harbin, People's Republic of China.
³ Key Laboratory for Photonic and Electronic Bandgap Materials, Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Harbin Normal University, 150000, Harbin, People's Republic of China. lil@hrbnu.edu.cn.
⁴ Province Key Laboratory of Forestry Intelligent Equipment Engineering, College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, 150000, Harbin, People's Republic of China. wlsong@nefu.edu.cn.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Bio-based Material Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, 150000, Harbin, People's Republic of China. wlsong@nefu.edu.cn.
⁶ Province Key Laboratory of Forestry Intelligent Equipment Engineering, College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, 150000, Harbin, People's Republic of China. sunzhuangzhi@nefu.edu.cn.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Bio-based Material Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, 150000, Harbin, People's Republic of China. sunzhuangzhi@nefu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Currently, the key challenge in triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) is how to efficiently enhance the surface charge density. Here, a new strategy is proposed to increase the surface charge density by comprehensively utilizing solar energy and tidal energy, and a bioinspired photoelectric-electromechanical integrated TENG (Pem-iTENG) is developed. This enhancement of output performance is greatly attributed to the accumulation of photoelectrons from photocatalysis and the triboelectric negative charges from contact electrification. Pem-iTENG shows a maximal open-circuit voltage of 124.2 V and a maximal short-circuit current density of 221.6 μA cm^-2 under tidal wave and sunlight, an improvement by nearly a factor of 10 over that of reported TENGs based on solid-liquid contact electrification. More importantly, it exhibits a high energy conversion efficiency according to the evaluation method for solar cells. This work provides insights into development of high-performance TENGs by using different natural energy sources.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't