A flexible single-electrode-based triboelectric nanogenerator based on double-sided nanostructures

Man Zhang,Chunlei Du,Lifang Shi,Suihu Dang,Qiling Deng,Liangping Xia,Axiu Cao

doi:10.1063/1.5114884

Abstract

In this study, we report a flexible single-electrode-based triboelectric nanogenerator based on double-sided polymer surface nanostructures. The triboelectric nanogenerators have been applied to harvest all kinds of mechanical energy in our daily life and convert them into electricity, and also used as a self-powered sensor system for touching pad and smart skin technologies. To enhance the performance of triboelectric nanogenerator, we fabricate a single-electrode-based triboelectric nanogenerator based on double-sided polydimethylsiloxane nanostructures and indium tin oxide electrode film using nanoimprint lithography. The nanostructures are nanopillar arrays with the diameter of about 200 nm to enhance the triboelectric effect. Open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current of the as-prepared samples are recorded using an oscilloscope with applying different external force at room temperature. The single-electrode-based triboelectric nanogenerator delivers an open-circuit voltage up to about 160 V, a short-circuit current of about 3 μA, and power density of 423.8 mW/m2, which provides an attractive solution to work as self-powered devices. This study greatly expands the applications of triboelectric nanogenerator as energy harvesting, environmental monitoring, and self-powered sensor systems.

Highlights

Owing to the rapid development of powering wireless, portable, and wearable electronics, energy harvesting for mobile self-powered sources has attracted increasing attention in the past decade.[1,2,3,4,5] Currently, many technologies to harvest energy in the nature environment into the electricity have been developed based on photovoltaic[6] piezoelectric,[7] electrostatic,[8] thermoelectric[9] and electromagnetic[10] effect
The schematic diagram of the S-triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) is illustrated in Figure 1a, which consists of double-sided elastic PDMS nanostructures triboelectric layers and intermediate indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode layer
These high-resolution nanostructures increase the friction contact area and roughness of the PDMS triboelectric layers to enhance the electrical performance of the flexible singleelectrode-based TENGs (S-TENGs)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Scitation.org/journal/adv wearable devices to collect micro-energy in the natural environment.[25–27]. Though the S-TENG has many advantages such as simple structure, integrated with other devices, and miniaturization, the energy conversion efficiency is commonly less than 50%.28,29. Two triboelectric layer with nanostructures and a metal electrode film between them are developed to improve the power generation.[34]. These works observed good experimental results to promote the developments and applications of TENGs. the configuration of the S-TENG and fabrication technologies limits its practical applications and products promotion. The S-TENG based on double-sided nanostructures consists of two PDMS triboelectric layers and ITO film as the intermediate electrode layer using nanoimprint lithography that is simple, low-cost, and high-throughput. This work will provide interest on the different S-TENGs structures with more potential applications in harvesting mechanical energies and self-powered systems

Flexible S-TENG based on double-sided nanostructures

Fabrication of the double-sided nanostructures of flexible S-TENG

Characterization and electrical measurement of the fabricated S-TENG

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

CONCLUSIONS