Multi-directional triboelectric nanogenerator based on industrial Q-switched pulsed laser etched Aluminum film

Abstract

A multi-directional Spring-Assisted triboelectric nanogenerator (SA-TENG) with a power of 0.42 mW is successfully fabricated based on a simple industrial technique. Here, a Q-switched pulsed laser (QSL) is applied to etch the Aluminum film surface. It enables to create a micro-nanostructured surface with a groove system perpendicular to the distance between the grooves of 20μm. For Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) thin films, however, the surface is modified by the Inductively Coupled Plasma Reactive Ion Etching technology (ICP-RIE). The role of QSL Etched Aluminum in enhancing the triboelectric performance of the Al/PTFE device is demonstrated. Indeed, the open-circuit voltage and the short-circuit current both increase from 80 V to 130 V and from 3.9 μA to 6.6 μA, respectively, when the Al surface is treated. In the vertically vibrating operation mode, the SA-TENG produces a voltage, current and power of 66 V, 5.1 μA and 350 μW, respectively, at the average velocity of 10 cm/s. In addition, the horizontally rotation mode with a rotation angle of 30° and an angular velocity of 30 deg/s generates an open-circuit voltage of 57 V, a short-circuit current of 4.4 μA and a power of 64 μW at 107 Ω. The real-time practical applicability of SA-TENG was confirmed by the lighting up of 92 LEDs connected in series and by the charging up of a 10 μF capacitor to 2.5 V in 35 s.