Earthworm‐Inspired Triboelectric Nanogenerator with O‐Shaped Multilayer Structure for Marine Ranching

Abstract

In view of the characteristics of small wave amplitude, stable direction, and low frequency near marine ranching, an energy‐harvesting device is designed and produced through an O‐shaped multilayer earthworm‐like triboelectric nanogenerator (OME–TENG) to provide a self‐sufficient energy supply for sensors without relying on batteries. Under the same conditions, O‐shaped multilayer TENG structure can carry out a fuller contact‐separation movement due to its unique O‐shaped structure, thus the peak power of the O‐shaped multilayer TENG structure can reach 10.4 mW, which is more than twice that of the Z‐shaped multilayer TENG structure. When the water wave frequency is 0.5 Hz and the wave amplitude is about 7.5 cm, the open‐circuit voltage, short‐circuit current, and transferred charge of the left units of the OME–TENG device can reach 300 V, 25 μA, and 900 nC, respectively, and can directly light up 107 light emitting diode. After rectification and parallel connection, the energy collected by the OME–TENG can easily power a digital hygrograph to monitor marine temperature and humidity. Therefore, the OME–TENG shows great application prospects in the energy supply of marine ranching.

Recent advances in nature inspired triboelectric nanogenerators for self-powered systems

“…Water energy, as a widely distributed and renewable resource, has garnered attention for its environmental friendliness and minimal impact on the external environment. Nature inspired TENGs, as novel water energy harvesting devices, utilize TENG technology for efficient water energy conversion [18,82,[115][116][117]. Compared to traditional methods, they are more efficient, eco-friendly, sustainable, and offer self-powering possibilities for small devices.…”

Recent advances in fabricating high-performance triboelectric nanogenerators via modulating surface charge density

“…Particularly suited to powering thousands of randomly dispersed sensor nodes of all types and sizes, TENGs are lightweight, easy to manufacture, and cost-effective, as opposed to chemical batteries. Currently, TENG has become a research hotspot across multiple disciplines, demonstrating up-and-coming applications in selfcharging packages [12][13][14][15], self-powered systems [16][17][18][19], high-voltage sources [20], medical electronics that are wearable or implantable [21][22][23][24][25], human-machine interfaces [26][27][28][29], artificial intelligence [30,31], smart agriculture [32,33], marine ranching [34], smart cities [35], blue energy [36][37][38][39][40] and more. It is estimated that there are over 12 000 scientists engaged in nanogenerators from 83 countries and regions worldwide [41].…”