Influence of Surface Functional Groups of ZnO Nanorods on the Performance of Cellulose Paper-Based Flexible Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Abstract

We report on the fabrication of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod-based flexible, cost-effective single electrode triboelectric nanogenerator (STENG) on cellulose paper platform. In particular, the influence of surface functional groups of ZnO nanorods on the STENG output has been investigated. The STENG has been designed with chemically grown ZnO nanorod-coated paper as active triboelectric layer and Teflon/ Aluminum as counter triboelectric layer/ electrode. It has been found that post-annealing of nanorods at 125∘C improves the output voltage by twice compared to the pristine nanorods and delivers an output power of [Formula: see text]W/cm2. With annealing up to 125∘C, the optimal removal of the chemisorbed water from the defect sites of ZnO surface increases the intrinsic carrier concentration leading to maximum charge transfer and hence higher triboelectric output. On the other hand, a higher extent of oxygen accumulation from air at 150∘C lowers the intrinsic carrier concentration resulting in the reduced output. It has been proposed that the competition between the events like water removal and oxygen accumulation under different annealing temperatures can influence the STENG output largely. Finally, the optimized STENG has been demonstrated to work as wearable bio-mechanical sensors operating through bio-mechanical stimuli.