Rotary Triboelectric Nanogenerator Research Articles

Self-driven real-time angle vector sensor as security dialer based on bi-directional backstop triboelectric nanogenerator

With the developments of Internet of Things (IoT), there is an endless demand for various sensors that can maintain a certain level of functional performance while providing excellent energy consumption levels, preferably harvesting energy from the environment. In this work, we designed a self-driven angle vector sensor based on triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) for constructing a reliable and low-cost IoT sensing system. Based on the high signal-to-noise (SNR) output of rotary TENG, a bi-directional backstop TENG (BB-TENG) is designed to realize direct quantization process of rotation angle and direction in real time. The homemade BB-TENG can generate an output voltage up to 174.45 V to resist external noise and guarantee the measurement quality, furthermore, the maximum speed error of measured rotation speed does not exceed 0.2 rpm. Then, a digital signal processor was implemented to extract the angle vector in real time and presents its application as a passcode dialer. This work not only demonstrates a new strategy in the field of angle measurement, but also extends the application scenario of TENG in the IoT field.

A Self‐Powered and Efficient Triboelectric Dehydrator for Separating Water‐in‐Oil Emulsions with Ultrahigh Moisture Content

AbstractOil–water emulsions are a considerable hazard to the environment, ecology, and human health, if not appropriately treated. This study proposes a self‐powered and efficient triboelectric dehydrator (TED) based on a wind‐driven freestanding rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (FR‐TENG) to separate water‐in‐oil emulsions. This TED can form a high‐voltage electric field in the emulsion when the FR‐TENG is driven by mechanical energy. The dehydration performance of the TED is analyzed in detail through multiphysics‐coupled models and experiments. It is found that the TED can dehydrate water‐in‐oil emulsions with a wide range of initial moisture contents. In particular, even when the initial moisture content is 60%, which is near the phase inversion concentration of the emulsion, the dehydration rate of the TED can still reach 99.41%. In addition, the performance of TED is demonstrated in a simulated situation of wind, suggesting that the present TED has great potential application for separating oil–water emulsions by harvesting environmental energy.

A method of measuring weak-charge of self-powered sensors based on triboelectric nanogenerator

Although most the triboelectric nanogenerator sensors use the output voltage signal as the sensing signal, other signals such as current or charge cannot be ignored as sensing signal. TENG sensor is equivalent to a charge source with variable internal capacitance and outputs weak charge signal, which is not convenient for direct application as sensing signal. Therefore, it is essential to study the processing method of the output charge of TENG sensor. In this paper, a preprocessing method based on the output charge signal of TENG sensor is proposed to achieve accurate measurement of weak charge. In order to measure the amount of charge transfer output by the TENG device, the characteristics of "virtual ground"(non-inverting terminal grounding) at the inverting input of the inverting operational amplifier is used to transfer the charge signal output by the TENG sensor to the feedback arm capacitor, and the output charge signal is measured by measuring the low impedance and low voltage signal output by the inverting operational amplifier. Then, the reason affecting the characterization accuracy of the preprocessing method is analyzed theoretically, and the optimization strategy of each component parameter is established. Experiments are carried out with contact-separated mode triboelectric nanogenerator (CS-TENG) and rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (R-TENG) respectively, and the errors of the preprocessing method are controlled within 7% and 5% respectively, which proves the feasibility of the preprocessing method. This provides a new way to extract the charge signal from TENG sensor and is expected to be a new method to characterize the charge signal in TENG energy harvester.

Chemical warfare agents decontamination via air mircoplasma excited by a triboelectric nanogenerator

Low-temperature air plasma, as an emerging green and efficient technology, has great potential to do chemical warfare agents (CWAs) decontamination. However, conventional plasma devices are bulky, costly and inconvenient. More importantly, their practical application is limited by the power grid and battery capacity. Here, A double layer paper-strip rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (dps-rTENG) is fabricated to serve as a self-powered high-voltage device to induce microplasma in air for CWAs decontamination. The degradation efficiency of 2-chloroethylethyl sulfide (2-CEES), a surrogate for the sulfur mustard (HD), reaches more than 99% within 2 min of microplasma treatment, and the energy utilization efficiency (Ee) of the dps-rTENG is calculated to be 0.520 μg/J, which is one order of magnitude higher than those of the commercial power supplies. Further study confirms that the degradation process of the dps-rTENG induced microplasma is well controllable to avoid the formation of large amounts of 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfone (2-CEESO2), a toxic excessive oxidation product. Triboelectric microplasma provides a new approach for self-powered, easily portable decontamination system for CWAs in future.

Self-powered antifouling UVC pipeline sterilizer driven by the discharge stimuli based on the modified freestanding rotary triboelectric nanogenerator

Microbial fouling and the resulting corrosion in marine environment cause severe economic and safety problems. It is urgent to develop feasible and efficient methods for controlling marine microbial fouling. In this study, the self-powered antifouling ultraviolet C (UVC) pipeline sterilizer was developed based on modified freestanding rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (MFR-TENG) with the function of discharge stimuli. Taking the advantage of breakdown discharge stimuli, the output voltage of the MFR-TENG is up to 6.9 kV, which is about 3-fold higher than the case in the absence of discharge stimuli (2.4 kV). This MFR-TENG provides sufficient energy for mercury vapor to generate ultraviolet radiation. The sterilization experiments demonstrate the self-powered antifouling UVC pipeline sterilizer exhibits superior antimicrobial ability against typical corrosive bacteria, including Halomonas titanicae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and miscellaneous bacteria cultured in raw seawater. Further investigation on morphological change of bacterium demonstrates the UVC radiation excited by discharge stimuli cause significant damage to the bacterial membrane. As a result, the antibacterial rate of the self-powered antifouling UVC pipeline sterilizer (75%) is higher as compared with that without discharge phenomenon (44%) after 10 min of sterilization. This study offers an eco-friendly and efficient strategy for preventing marine microbial fouling.

Wind‐Driven Soft‐Contact Rotary Triboelectric Nanogenerator Based on Rabbit Fur with High Performance and Durability for Smart Farming

AbstractWind energy, as one kind of renewable and sustainable energy sources, is expected to solve the problem of energy consumption and environment deterioration. Here, an improved rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) using rabbit fur‐based soft‐contact (SCR‐TENG) with segmented structure for harvesting low‐speed wind energy is design and fabricated. The adopted soft raw‐rabbit fur shows excellent performance in triboelectrification and is beneficial to reducing frictional resistance and prolonging the lifetime of device. After 480 000 cycles, no obvious wear is observed on the dielectric film surface, and the transferred charge is not significantly attenuated. The mechanical‐to‐electrical energy conversion efficiency of 15.4% can be achieved. Moreover, self‐powered applications have been successfully demonstrated in night direction indication, insect trapping, soil moisture detection, ambient temperature and humidity detection, and signal transmission, powered by SCR‐TENG, toward smart farming.

Ultra-stability high-voltage triboelectric nanogenerator designed by ternary dielectric triboelectrification with partial soft-contact and non-contact mode

As an effective high-voltage supply, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) shows the output characteristics of high voltage (~kV) and low current (~µA) with advantages of low cost, high safety and high portability. Usually, the serious material abrasion and voltage output lower than 10 kV of TENG have limited its practical high-voltage application. Herein, a polyester fur-reinforced rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (PFR-TENG) with an ultra-stability high voltage output is proposed. Based on the appropriate work function and electronegativity, a soft polyester fur layer, as the charge pump and charge transmitter, is introduced to form partial soft-contact and non-contact. Therefore, PFR-TENG maintains 100% electrical output after 100k cycles. Adopting ternary dielectric triboelectrification design, 15 kV DC voltage and 10 kV AC voltage are obtained easily without a voltage-multiplying circuit. To prove the practicability of the TENG, the high-voltage pulsed electric field generated by PFR-TENG is used to promote seed germination. The germination index and vigor index increase by 34.4% and 351.2% compared with untreated seeds. This work shows a feasible strategy for improving the stability and voltage output of the TENG, and expands the application of TENG as high-voltage equipment for high-tech agriculture.

Design Optimization of Soft‐Contact Freestanding Rotary Triboelectric Nanogenerator for High‐Output Performance

AbstractThe soft‐contact freestanding rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (FR‐TENG), with the capabilities of high output performance and excellent efficiency, presents interesting applications in driven nonequilibrium plasma jets, mass spectrometry, electrospinning, and so on. For enhancing the output performance of FR‐TENG, detailed and in‐depth research focusing on the design method is discussed in this paper, mainly consisting of the following four parts: 1) design reasonable geometric structure, 2) select triboelectric layers, 3) choose a reasonable signal acquisition, and 4) investigate influencing factors. Benefiting from this four‐step systematic research, a modified FR‐TENG with better output performance is successfully constructed. A corresponding open‐circuit voltage density of 1.27 × 105 V m−2 is achieved, which is over twofold higher compared to the largest one among the previous similar articles. Therefore, the four‐step systematic research is demonstrated to remarkably enhance the output performance of the soft‐contact FR‐TENG. This work not only presents a modified FR‐TENG with ultrahigh voltage density that inhibits bacterial corrosion, enables high‐voltage electrostatic dust removal, and enables impressive current cathodic protection of marine pipelines and urban buried pipelines, but also can be regarded as guidance for the design of soft‐contact FR‐TENG.

Instantaneous Self-Powered Sensing System Based on Planar-Structured Rotary Triboelectric Nanogenerator.

Self-powering electronics by harvesting mechanical energy has been widely studied, but most self-powering processes require a long time in the energy harvesting procedure, resulting in low efficiency or even system failure in some specific applications such as instantaneous sensor signal acquisition and transmission. In order to achieve efficient self-powered sensing, we design and construct an instantaneous self-powered sensing system, which puts heavy requirements on generator’s power and power management circuit. Theoretical analysis and experimental results over two types of generators prove that the planar-structured rotary triboelectric nanogenerator possesses many advantages over electromagnetic generator for the circumstances of instantaneous self-powering. In addition, an instantaneous driving mode power management circuit is also introduced showing advanced performance for the instantaneous self-powering sensing system. As a proof-of-concept, an integrated instantaneous self-powered sensing system is demonstrated based on Radio-Frequency transmission. This work demonstrates the potential of instantaneous self-powered sensing systems to be used in a wide range of applications such as smart home, environment monitoring, and security surveillance.

Dual Mode Rotary Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Collecting Kinetic Energy from Bicycle Brake

Regenerative braking system is a promising technology for electrical vehicles, in which the excess kinetic energy can be effectively collected and utilized. As a new energy technology based on contact electrification, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is suitable for harvesting dissipated kinetic energy in braking systems. Herein, a dual mode rotary TENG (DMR‐TENG) is reported, which is installed on the bicycle disc brake for collecting kinetic energy in riding mode and braking mode. First, the electric generation mechanism of DMR‐TENG is analyzed and then the characteristics in different structural and kinematic parameters by simulation and experiment are investigated. Furthermore, a linkage mechanism is designed for two modes switching by controlling the distance between two triboelectric layers of the DMR‐TENG. The results illustrate that the DMR‐TENG can simultaneously illuminate 156 serial LEDs as a warning signal while riding and braking. In addition, it can charge a 300 μF capacitor and act as a power source to drive a speedometer, which can measure the bicycle speed in real time. Herein, a considerable prospect in vehicle kinetic energy collecting is demonstrated and may have potential application in intelligent transportation.

Improved Degradation Efficiency of Levofloxacin by a Self-Powered Electrochemical System with Pulsed Direct-Current.

With the excellent structural design, rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (R-TENG) is suitable for harvesting mechanical energy such as wind energy and water energy to build a self-powered electrochemical system for environmental science. The electrochemical performance has been greatly improved by using the pulsed direct-current (PDC) output of a TENG; however, a full-wave PDC (FW-PDC) is hardly realized in R-TENG devices due to existence of phase superposition. Here, a R-TENG with FW-PDC output is reported to perform a self-powered electro-Fenton system for enhancing the removal efficiency of levofloxacin (OFL). By adjusting the rotation center angle ratio between each rotator and stator unit, the phase superposition of R-TENG caused by multiple parallel electrodes can be effectively eliminated, thus achieving the desired FW-PDC output. Because of the reduced electrode passivation effect, the removal efficiency of OFL is improved by 30% under equal electric charges through using the designed R-TENG with FW-PDC output compared to traditional R-TENG. This study provides a promising methodology to improve the performance of self-powered electrochemical process for treating environment pollutions.

Self-powered droplet manipulation system for microfluidics based on triboelectric nanogenerator harvesting rotary energy.

Microfluidic technology, as a method for manipulating tiny fluids, has the advantages of low sample consumption, fast reaction, and no cross-contamination. In a microfluidic system, accurate manipulation of droplets is a crucial technology that has been widely investigated. In this work, a self-powered droplet manipulation system (SDMS) is proposed to realize various droplet operations, including moving, splitting, merging, mixing, transporting chemicals and reacting. The SDMS is mainly composed of a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), an electric brush, and a microfluidic device. The TENG serves as a high-voltage source to power the system. Using different electric brushes and microfluidic devices, different manipulations of droplets can be achieved. Moreover, by experiments and simulations, the influence of the electrode width, the electrode gap and the central angle of one electrode on the performance of SDMS is analyzed in detail. Firstly, by using electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) technology, SDMS can accurately control droplets for long-distance linear movement and simultaneously control multiple droplets to move in a circular electrode track consisting of 40 electrodes. SDMS can also manipulate two droplets of different components to merge and react. In addition, using dielectrophoresis (DEP) technology, SDMS can separate droplets with maximum volumes of 400 μL and reduce the time of the complete mixing of two droplets with different components by 6.3 times compared with the passive mixing method. Finally, the demonstration shows that a droplet can be manipulated by hand power for chemical delivery and chemical reactions on a circular electrode track without an external power source, which proves the applicability of SDMS as an open-surface microfluidic device. Therefore, the self-powered droplet manipulation system proposed in this work may have great application in the fields of drug delivery, micro chemical reactions, and biological microanalysis.

Self-Powered Antifouling UVC Pipeline Sterilizer Driven by the Discharge Stimuli Based on the Modified Freestanding Rotary Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Self-Powered Antifouling UVC Pipeline Sterilizer Driven by the Discharge Stimuli Based on the Modified Freestanding Rotary Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Liquid-solid contact electrification based on discontinuous-conduction triboelectric nanogenerator induced by radially symmetrical structure

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) for scavenging mechanical energy has been conducted over the past decade with respectable successes. Up to now, the solid-solid TENG has been the dominant side but themselves still have their own drawbacks; thus, the liquid-solid TENG has got attention instead. Here we developed a discontinuous-conduction-based rotary triboelectric nanogenerator based on the liquid-solid electrification. By using the motion-activated switch structure, the induced charges can accumulate on one electrode and then release to another electrode at a specifically designated position. Taking advantage of this process, we can maximize the charge transfer per cycle which also improves the output performance of the developed TENG.

Artificial intelligence enhanced mathematical modeling on rotary triboelectric nanogenerators under various kinematic and geometric conditions

Abstract The triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has been introduced as a revolutionary technology in the renewable electrical energy generation at micro/nanoscale. In the current study, experimental and theoretical models for augmented rotary TENGs are presented. The power generated by TENGs is found to be a function of the number of segments, rotational speed, and tribo-surface spacing. Mathematical modeling combined with artificial intelligence is applied to characterize the TENG output under various kinematics and geometric conditions. Sensitivity analysis reveals that the generated energy and the matched resistance depend highly on segmentation and angular velocity rate. It is shown that the optimized harvested energy reaches 0.369 mJ at each cycle. The TENG dynamic outputs for various structural parameters are found and described. This study enhances understanding of rotation-induced periodic TENGs and reveals optimized characteristics for disk-shaped TENG energy harvesters.

Self-powered electrochemical system by combining Fenton reaction and active chlorine generation for organic contaminant treatment

Environmental deterioration, especially water pollution, is widely dispersed and could affect the quality of people’s life at large. Though the sewage treatment plants are constructed to meet the demands of cities, distributed treatment units are still in request for the supplementary of centralized purification beyond the range of plants. Electrochemical degradation can reduce organic pollution to some degree, but it has to be powered. Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is a newly-invented technology for low-frequency mechanical energy harvesting. Here, by integrating a rotary TENG (R-TENG) as electric power source with an electrochemical cell containing a modified graphite felt cathode for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) along with hydroxyl radical (•OH) generation by Fenton reaction and a platinum sheet anode for active chlorine generation, a self-powered electrochemical system (SPECS) was constructed. Under the driven of mechanical energy or wind flow, such SPECS can efficiently degrade dyes after power management in neutral condition without any O2 aeration. This work not only provides a guideline for optimizing self-powered electrochemical reaction, but also displays a strategy based on the conversion from distributed mechanical energy to chemical energy for environmental remediation.

Triboelectric driven turbine to generate electricity from the motion of water

Triboelectric nanogenerators are a new promising energy harvesting technology that has a simple working mechanism, produces high output power and has the ability of harvesting energy from a wide range of sources and under various conditions. Here, we present a rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) that harvests energy from water flows using polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and Nylon 6.6 as triboelectric materials. The operation mechanism of the fabricated rotary TENG is a hybridization of the contact and sliding modes by using the triboelectrification and electrostatic induction effects. The optimization of the developed setup for the effective generation of electricity showed that the best configuration consists in a triboelectric structure with four Nylon and one PTFE plate for the maximum used water flow of 44L/min. With this configuration, the rotary TENG delivers a mean voltage value of ∼102.2V, a short-circuit current density ∼120mA/m2 and a maximum power density of ∼6.1W/m2. Finally, with this device it was possible to light up more than 50 serial-connected light emitting diodes, fully charge a 1.0μF capacitor with 15.2V in just 65s and feed a commercial temperature and humidity sensor. The developed rotary TENG can then be applied to autonomous sensors that monitor water supply systems using the energy produced by water movement in plumbing.

Nanoporous-Gold-Based Hybrid Cantilevered Actuator Dealloyed and Driven by A Modified Rotary Triboelectric Nanogenerator.

We firstly designed an electrochemical system for dealloying to synthesize nanoporous gold (NPG) and also driving the novel NPG based actuator by utilizing a modified rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). Compared to the previous reported TENG whose outputs decline due to temperature rising resulting from electrodes friction, the modified TENG with a cooling system has stable output current and voltage increased by 14% and 20%, respectively. The novel cantilevered hybrid actuator characterised by light-weight (ca. 3 mg) and small volume (ca. 30 mm × 2 mm × 10 μm) is driven by a microcontroller modulated TENG with the displacement of 2.2 mm, which is about 106 times larger than that of traditional cantilever using planar surfaces. The energy conversion efficiencies defined as the energy consumed during dealloying and actuation compared with the output of TENG are 47% and 56.7%, respectively.

Highly Efficient Storage of Pulse Energy Produced by Triboelectric Nanogenerator in Li3V2(PO4)3/C Cathode Li-Ion Batteries.

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has been considered as a new type of energy harvesting technology, which employs the coupling effects of triboelectrification and electrostatic induction. One key factor having limited its application is the energy storage. In this work, a high performance Li3V2(PO4)3/C material synthesized by low-cost hydrothermal method followed with subsequent annealing treatment was studied to efficiently store the power generated by a radial-arrayed rotary TENG. Not only does the Li3V2(PO4)3/C exhibit a discharge capacity of 128 mAh g(-1) at 1 C with excellent cyclic stability (capacity retention is 90% after 1000 cycles at a rate of 5 C) in Li-ion battery, but also shows outstanding energy conversion efficiency (83.4%) compared with the most popular cathodic materials: LiFePO4 (74.4%), LiCoO2 (66.1%), and LiMn2O4 (73.6%) when it was charged by high frequency and large current electricity directly from by TENG.

Two-dimensional rotary triboelectric nanogenerator as a portable and wearable power source for electronics

Harvesting energy from ambient mechanical motions addresses limitations of traditional power supplies by providing a sustained electric power source. Here, a high-performance rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (r-TENG) is applied in a variety of circumstances to specifically harvest mechanical energy from human body motions. When rotating at 500rmin−1, it can produce an ac electric output that has a current amplitude of 0.75mA and a voltage amplitude of 200V at a frequency of 750Hz. Integrated with structural components that transfer mechanical motions and electric components that achieve power management, the r-TENG is demonstrated as a power source by harvesting energy from foot pedaling, arm swinging and foot pressure. The generated electricity can effectively charge consumer electronics such as a cellphone, which shows the promise of the r-TENG as a power source for portable, wearable and even implantable electronics.