Aerogel based nanogenerators: Production methods, characterizations and applications

Abstract

Thanks to the nanogenerators known as state-of-the-art energy collecting devices, the mechanical energy in every environment can be converted into electrical energy. Some studies on the improvement of the performance of triboelectric and piezoelectric nanogenerators that convert mechanical energy to electrical energy revealed that aerogels brought significant outcomes in the development of nanogenerators. Aerogels, the lightest solid material known, provides a large surface area as the contact area of the nanogenerators, its adjustable porosity allows to improve electronic properties of the nanogenerators, showing its significance in electronics once again. At the same time, the use of aerogels, which is the best candidate in terms of flexibility and mechanical strength required in wearable electronics, in the production of nanogenerators continues to attract the attention of researchers. This study includes an introduction of aerogels and the discussions on the studies involving aerogel based nanogenerators. In the paper, the studies in the literature, focusing on the advantages of aerogel based nanogenerators and their current applications were collected. Three different types of aerogel nanogenerators production were observed to be produced. They are all based on aerogel electrodes produced from different materials, and the paper outlines them with basic working principles. This classification of aerogel nanogenerators and outlining the results will make a significant contribution to the literature and will be a good source for researchers who want to work in this field.

Cellulose‐Based Hybrid Aerogels: Strategies toward Design and Functionality

“…Hybrid cellulose aerogels are considered the best porous materials for the generation of high output voltages and performances in the TENGs due to their flexibility, high surface area, and surface functional groups. [ 133 ]…”

“…Hybrid cellulose aerogels are considered the best porous materials for the generation of high output voltages and performances in the TENGs due to their flexibility, high surface area, and surface functional groups. [133] Zheng et al first introduced a novel approach, employing aerogels in both positive and negative triboelectric surfaces in the fabrication of TENGs to improve the power outputs. [134] Highly porous CNF, Chitosan, and CNF-aminosilane aerogels have been used as triboelectric positive materials paired with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or highly porous (92% porosity) polyimide (PI) as triboelectric negative material, as shown in Figure 14c.…”

Low-cost composite film triboelectric nanogenerators for a self-powered touch sensor

“…In addition, the application of TENGs has also attracted a lot of researchers, and many achievements have been reported in the past decade. 33–38…”

Performance Investigation of Textile Triboelectric Generators

“…This means that the materials' chemical or mechanical properties also affect the resulting electrical outputs. So for example, many polymer materials like fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) have been proved to be good for building efficient TEGs, keeping also the cost low [17]. Additionally, the surface structure is important, as it directly relates to the increase of the contacting area.…”

“…For example, state-of-the-art technologies for particular material structures like aerogels have been introduced in TEGs building in order to achieve high efficiency. Indeed aerogels are particularly interesting in TEGs applications area because of their high porosity, flexibility, light weight and large surface areas, while they can also be combined with another energy harvesting family, called Piezoelectric Generators to build improved hybrid generators [17,18].…”