A Highly Efficient and Durable Kirigami Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Rotational Energy Harvesting

Abstract

While sliding-mode triboelectric nanogenerators (S-TENGs) have been considered as one of the most promising devices for rotational energy harvesting, their inherently poor durability has been a serious bottleneck for applications. Herein, we report a three-dimensional kirigami TENG as a highly efficient and durable rotational energy harvesting device. The kirigami TENG consisted of cube-shaped paper, aluminum (Al) foil electrode and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) polymer film, and converted rotational motion into multiple folding-unfolding vibrations. The rotation-folding (R-F) kirigami TENG generated an open-circuit voltage of 31 V, a short-circuit current of 0.67 μA and an instantaneous power (power density) of 1.2 μW (0.13 μW/cm2) at 200 rpm, which was sufficient to turn on 25 light-emitting diodes and a thermo-hygrometer. The triboelectric outputs of the R-F kirigami TENG were only slightly decreased even after 288,000 continuous rotations, i.e., the output remained at 86% of its initial value. This work demonstrates that an R-F kirigami TENG could be a plausible candidate to efficiently harvest various forms of rotational energy with a long-term durability.

Theoretical and experimental investigation into the asymmetric external charging of Triboelectric Nanogenerators

“…During testing, each TENG device was connected to the high-precision motion control setup and triboelectrically charged (pre-charged) using contact-separation movements (1 mm amplitude, 1 Hz frequency sinusoidal movements with 20 N maximum contact force) to ensure that the surfaces are initially saturated with static charges [42]. We note that the selection of the 20 N contact force for the pre-charging process of the TENG is based on our previous studies for identical material systems [2,3,23], as well as similar contact force values used by other research groups [43][44][45], to obtain adequate and consistent triboelectric outputs. A detailed description of the experimental setup and the methodology is provided in Supplementary Note 2 [2,3,23].…”

Scalable Textile Manufacturing Methods for Fabricating Triboelectric Nanogenerators with Balanced Electrical and Wearable Properties

“…A bespoke linear motion system (Figure a,b) was used to provide contact and separation movements of triboelectric layer 1 and triboelectric layer 2 (1 mm amplitude, 1 Hz frequency, 10 N maximum contact force, and sinusoidal movement (Figure c)), and this process was followed to evaluate the outputs of the three application methods. Herein, we note that the selection of the maximum contact force (10 N) was based on our previous studies ,,− as well as contact force values used by other research groups − for wearable TENG characterizations, representing an easily obtainable force/pressure value during regular movements for wearable TENG applications. In doing so, we hypothesize that these motion conditions closely represent the motion parameters that the textile TENG would be subjected to, in practical operating conditions. , The outputs of the TENG surfaces (open circuit voltage ( V oc ), short circuit current ( I sc ), and short circuit charge ( Q sc )) were measured using a Keithley 6514 electrometer .…”

Hierarchically structured polyvinylidene fluoride core‐shell composite yarn based on electrospinning coating method to improve piezoelectricity

“…Facing the extensive application of smart and flexible wearable device in body healthy monitoring, artificial intelligence and human–machine, the energy supply and consumption are still the most crucial limitation in the development of the portable flexible electronic products. Researchers have made great efforts to develop various types of flexible self‐powered wearable intelligent devices to collect energy to achieve self‐powered, such as piezoelectric nanogenerators (PNGs), 1,2 triboelectric nanogenerators, 3,4 and pyroelectric nanogenerators 5,6 . Among them, PNGs generation is widely favored as a new power generation method with stable output, simple structure, and lightweight 7–10 .…”