Boosting output performance of triboelectric nanogenerator based on BaTiO3:La embedded nanofiber membrane for energy harvesting and wireless power transmission

Abstract

To boost output charge density for achieving high-performance triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), increasing dielectric constant of triboelectric materials is considered as an important strategy. Herein, a high-performance TENG is fabricated based on BaTiO3:La-embedded poly (vinylidene fluoride-trifluoro-ethylene) (PVDF-TrFE) nanofiber membrane (NM) (BLPT-NM) for energy harvesting and wireless power transmission. The obtained BLPT-NM shows an enhanced electronegativity and a significant increase in dielectric constant (38.8 at 10 kHz) through facile electrospinning and proper concentration optimization of BaTiO3:La. The fabricated single-electrode-mode TENG based on BLPT-NM (3 × 3 cm2) demonstrates excellent output performance with power density of 2.52 W m–2 (ƒ=1.5 Hz) and triboelectric charge density of 87.3 μC m−2, which are significantly increased by more than 11- and 3-fold, respectively, in comparison with those of the TENG based on pristine PVDF-TrFE-NM. More importantly, a wireless power transmission for transmitting electrical signals is successfully achieved via Maxwell’s displacement current generated by the BLPT-NM based TENG after directly harvesting ambient biomechanical energy. Furthermore, the wirelessly received signals can trigger the operation of some electronics in real time. This work demonstrates an effective strategy for boosting the output performance of TENG and paves a new route to further promote the development of wireless power transmission technologies.