Abstract
Harvesting wind energy from the ambient environment is a feasible method for powering wireless sensors and wireless transmission equipment. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have proven to be a stable and promising technology for harvesting ambient wind energy. This study explores a new method for the performance enhancement and practical application of TENGs. An array of flag-type triboelectric nanogenerators (F-TENGs) for harvesting wind energy is proposed. An F-TENG consists of one piece of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane, which has two carbon-coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) membranes on either side with their edges sealed. The PTFE was pre-ground to increase the initial charge on the surface and to enhance the effective contact area by improving the surface roughness, thus achieving a significant improvement in the output performance. The vertical and horizontal arrays of F-TENGs significantly improved the power output performance. The optimal power output performance was achieved when the vertical parallel distance was approximately 4D/15 (see the main text for the meaning of D), and the horizontal parallel distance was approximately 2D. We found that the peak output voltage and current of a single flag-type TENG of constant size were increased by 255% and 344%, respectively, reaching values of 64 V and 8 μA, respectively.
Highlights
In the era of the Internet of Things (IoT), the widespread implementation of low-power wireless sensors, portable electronics, and wireless transmission devices is required
The Vmax of the F-Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) fabricated by grinding the PTFE with P10000 sandpaper is approximately 22 the flag-type triboelectric nanogenerators (F-TENGs) fabricated by grinding the PTFE with P10000 sandpaper is approximately 22 V
The designed F-TENG array effectively converted the flutter energy contained in wind into electrical energy by enhancing the triboelectric interaction between the PTFE membrane and a carbon-coated membrane, as well as increasing the charge on the PTFE membrane
Summary
In the era of the Internet of Things (IoT), the widespread implementation of low-power wireless sensors, portable electronics, and wireless transmission devices is required. This requirement raised concerns regarding the associated increase in demand for energy supply, owing to the large number and dispersed locations of the required devices. Wind power is a promising renewable energy source for wireless sensors and wireless transmission equipment because it is one of the cleanest sources of energy, with a wide distribution and high availability. A minority of wind power generation methods implement miniaturized equipment. After changing the traditional arrangement of a flutter device parallel to the flow direction to a suspended cross-flow arrangement, the Nanomaterials 2022, 12, 721.
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