Recently, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have emerged as having an important role in the next wave of technology due to their large potential applications in energy harvesting and smart sensing. Recognizing this, a device based on TENGs, which can solve some of the problems in the liquid flow measurement process, was considered. In this paper, a new method to measure the liquid flow rate through a pipe which is based on the triboelectric effect is reported. A single-electrode flowing liquid-based TENG (FL-TENG) was developed, comprising a silicon pipe and an electrode coated with a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane. The measured electrical responses show that the FL-TENG can generate a peak open-circuit voltage and peak short-circuit current of 2.6 V and 0.3 µA when DI water is passed through an 8 mm cell FL-TENG at a flow rate of 130 mL/min and reach their maximum values of 17.8 V-1.57 µA at a flow rate of 1170 mL/min, respectively. Importantly, the FL-TENG demonstrates a robust linear correlation between its electrical output and the flow rate, with the correlation coefficient R2 ranging from 0.943 to 0.996. Additionally, this study explores the potential of the FL-TENG to serve as a self-powered sensor power supply in future applications, emphasizing its adaptability as both a flow rate sensor and an energy harvesting device.
Keywords: coated electrode; flow rate; self-powered sensing; silicon pipe; triboelectric nanogenerator.