Fully elastic multilayered triboelectric energy harvester made of polymer thin films and elastic tubes

Abstract

This paper presents a triboelectric energy harvester that can be stacked in multiple layers and fabricated using an elastic hollow tube, polymer film, and conductive tape. Using the compression deformation characteristic of the elastic tube, the proposed device can stably generate high average powers at large displacements and generate energy even at small vibrations, where the two materials are not entirely separated. The proposed device was fabricated by attaching a conductive tape to the film and a self-assembled monolayer coating. Peak-to-peak values of 33.5 V and 11.5 μA were measured when a force of 50 N at 4 Hz was applied to a single-layer device. When the device was pressed by 1 mm in advance, the outputs decreased to 19.2 V and 6.6 μA. A three-layer device exhibited the same open-circuit voltage, whereas the maximum short-circuit current was measured to be 33 μA, approximately three times higher. When the device was operated in the full contact–separation mode, the maximum power was measured to be 837 µW, whereas when a 1 mm preload state was maintained, the measured power was 419 µW.