Hybrid nanogenerator and enhancement of water–solid contact electrification using triboelectric charge supplier

Abstract

Artificially embedded surface charges can dramatically improve the output energy of water–solid contact electrification devices, but the embedded charges easily escape or are cancelled out by adsorption of opponent ions in ambient conditions. Here, we demonstrate a hybrid energy harvesting nanogenerator by combing water–solid and solid–solid contact electrification schemes. It consists of a water–solid contact electrification device and wind-fluttering ribbons that regularly supplies triboelectric surface charges on the solid surface and hence, the high density of surface charges can remain on the surface. This scheme can enhance the harvesting energy by up to a factor of 30 during rain. Moreover, the fluttering ribbons independently collect electric energy from mild winds without rain. This scheme provides a facile, cost-effective, and robust approach to enhance the energy-harvesting efficiency of a water–solid contact electrification device and to combine the energy harvesting from simultaneous rain and wind.