A hybrid triboelectric and piezoelectric nanogenerator with α-Al2O3 NPs/Doku and PVDF/SWCNTs nanofibers

Abstract

Energy harvesting from multiple sources available from different motion in human body are highly desirable for powering sensors and wearable devices. Herein, this paper introduces a hybrid nanogenerator device composed of triboelectric and piezoelectric nanogenerators (TPENG) based on energy harvesting. The hybrid device composed of a triboelectric part fabricated from α- Al2O3 nanoparticles (NPs) dispersed on a commercial spray Doku (Al2O3 NPs/Doku) via air jet spinning technique (AJS) on aluminum foil. The second counterpart of the device is based on piezoelectric behavior which is composed of composite PVDF/SWCNTs nanofibers collected on Al foil as electrode via electrospinning technique and working as a hybrid triboelectric counterpart. This hybrid TPENG device shows superior energy harvesting with small hand pressure based on contact separation mode. The two TPENG device electrode materials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results were obtained based on values of output voltage and current and showed a maximum peak of 19.5 V and 6 µA attributed to Doku & PVDF/SWCTs NFs device, 3 V and 15 µA assigned to Al2O3/Doku & PVDF/SWCNTs NFs device. Moreover, the device stability reaches to > 3000 s. These results are promising and these can open avenues to many applications such as powering sensors, wearable devices, water desalination, and actuators.