High Output Performance and Ultra-Durable DC Output for Triboelectric Nanogenerator Inspired by Primary Cell

Shaoke Fu; Wencong He; Huiyuan Wu; Chuncai Shan; Yan Du; Gui Li; Ping Wang; Hengyu Guo; Jie Chen; Chenguo Hu

doi:10.1007/s40820-022-00898-2

High Output Performance and Ultra-Durable DC Output for Triboelectric Nanogenerator Inspired by Primary Cell

Nanomicro Lett. 2022 Aug 2;14(1):155. doi: 10.1007/s40820-022-00898-2.

Authors

Shaoke Fu¹, Wencong He¹, Huiyuan Wu¹, Chuncai Shan¹, Yan Du¹, Gui Li¹, Ping Wang¹, Hengyu Guo¹, Jie Chen², Chenguo Hu³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Applied Physics, State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment and System Security and New Technology, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, People's Republic of China.
² College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 401331, People's Republic of China. chenjie@cqnu.edu.cn.
³ Department of Applied Physics, State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment and System Security and New Technology, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, People's Republic of China. hucg@cqu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is regarded as an effective strategy to convert environment mechanical energy into electricity to meet the distributed energy demand of large number of sensors in the Internet of Things (IoTs). Although TENG based on the coupling of triboelectrification and air-breakdown achieves a large direct current (DC) output, material abrasion is a bottleneck for its applications. Here, inspired by primary cell and its DC signal output characteristics, we propose a novel primary cell structure TENG (PC-TENG) based on contact electrification and electrostatic induction, which has multiple working modes, including contact separation mode, freestanding mode and rotation mode. The PC-TENG produces DC output and operates at low surface contact force. It has an ideal effective charge density (1.02 mC m^-2). Meanwhile, the PC-TENG shows a superior durability with 99% initial output after 100,000 operating cycles. Due to its excellent output performance and durability, a variety of commercial electronic devices are powered by PC-TENG via harvesting wind energy. This work offers a facile and ideal scheme for enhancing the electrical output performance of DC-TENG at low surface contact force and shows a great potential for the energy harvesting applications in IoTs.

Keywords: DC output; Durability; Intelligent monitoring; Triboelectric nanogenerator.