A compact model for the zigzag triboelectric nanogenerator energy harvester

Abstract

Summary Energy is a global demand nowadays. Researchers and Scientists are trying every day to find new resources to generate energy. Mechanical energy is considered one of the most essential energy resources in the world. It can be easily generated and transferred into electrical energy. There are a lot of new technologies that are working to develop small and portable energy harvesters for electronic devices such as piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). However, TENGs are more favorable to piezoelectric nanogenerators due to the availability of nontoxic materials. Moreover, they are cheap and exhibit high performance. This article investigates one of the TENG devices, Zigzag structure. It presents an analytical derivation for the model that addresses all aspects of the TENG such as the output voltage, the output current, the capacitance, the resistive load, the capacitive load and the harvested power step by step. The analytical derivation is also verified using COMSOL simulations to validate the results. The mismatch between the analytical derivation and COMSOL is 0.022% in the open circuit voltage and 0.33% in short circuit charge. Electrical behavior is presented afterwards using Verilog‐A in Cadence to examine the performance of the TENG devices in real life situations. For the chosen parameters, the device delivers a maximum voltage of 23 KV at nearly 90° and a maximum current of 7.5 μA at nearly 10°. The maximum reported output power for a load of 5 GΩ is 5.2 mW.

Investigation of Power Density Amplification in Stacked Triboelectric Nanogenerators

“…However, numerous experimental results reflect that the open-circuit voltage improves with the increase of the contact area. [35] On the other hand, for Z-TENGs, their working process is considered as a rotary motion around an axis, and Refaei [40] gave the voltage distribution of Z-TENGs (Equation 2):…”

“…However, numerous experimental results reflect that the open‐circuit voltage improves with the increase of the contact area. [ 35 ] On the other hand, for Z‐TENGs, their working process is considered as a rotary motion around an axis, and Refaei [ 40 ] gave the voltage distribution of Z‐TENGs (Equation ):where is the length of the friction layer, and θ is the angle between two friction layers. Refaei theoretically calculated that the open‐circuit voltage varies with the angle from 0° to 140°.…”

“…[42][43][44] The charge transfer process of Z-TENGs is consistent with that of the SCS-TENG. Moreover, the differences are: 1) as shown in Figure 1c, the contact separation process of the Z-TENG is not a linear motion but approximates a rotary motion; [40] 2) since this special trajectory, the effective working area of Z-TENG is the projected area of the friction layer in the moving direction, i.e., SÁcos(θ/2); 3) Z-TENGs yield multiple output signals under a single excitation, i.e., different units need to be connected in series or parallel before connecting external loads.…”

“…Meanwhile, the units of Z-TENGs cannot be fully contacted due to the space limitation of the structures in some cases. [40,41] Therefore, the output power and power density of single-layer CS-TENGs (SCS-TENGs) and Z-TENGs should be systematically studied and compared to reveal the spatial dependence of both harvesters.…”

A Nanogenerator Enabled by a Perfect Combination and Synergetic Utilization of Triboelectrification, Charge Excitation and Electromagnetic Induction to Reach Efficient Energy Conversion

“…One of the most effective strategies is to stack TENG in multiple layers to enhance output performance without expanding the whole device volume. Stacking modes with different structures and materials choice (Large differences in electron affinity between them) have been proposed to optimize its performance, [ 20 ] such as stripe Miura, Yoshimura, and waterbomb fold, showing their respective advantages. [ 21 ] Nevertheless, TENG depending on stacking strategy cannot effectively improve the output performance of TENG due to narrow working gaps, inadequate triboelectrification and electrostatic induction ability between tribo‐materials.…”