Super‐Durable, Low‐Wear, and High‐Performance Fur‐Brush Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Wind and Water Energy Harvesting for Smart Agriculture

Abstract

The triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), as a promising energy harvesting technology, provides a new approach for the realization of the Internet of Things (IoTs). However, material abrasion severely limits its practical applications because of the deterioration in mechanical durability and electrical stability. Here, naturally available animal furs are introduced, owing to their superiorities of extremely low wear, high performance and humidity resistance. More than 10 times the electric output is observed relative to the conventional TENG, even at low driving torque. The transferred charge of fur‐brush TENG (FB‐TENG) exhibits only 5.6% attenuation after continuous operation for 300 000 cycles, maintaining high output performance even if the relative humidity increases up to 90%. Furthermore, a counter‐rotating structure is first designed to further increase the output by doubling the relative rotation speed. Based on this mechanism, a significantly elevated output current of 36.6% is obtained in ambient conditions. Finally, self‐powered automatic irrigation, weather monitoring and wireless water level warning multifunctional management systems are realized by collecting the wind and water flow energy. This work provides a strategy of reducing wear on the premise of high performance, which lays a foundation for effective environmental energy harvesting toward practical applications in big data and the IoTs.

Segmented Swing‐Structured Fur‐Based Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Harvesting Blue Energy toward Marine Environmental Applications

“…In the present work, the swing-structured TENG was further optimized by using the flexible rabbit fur brushes and segmented structure, which effectively extended the time period of energy harvesting, the lifetime of TENG, and thus the total energy conversion efficiency. The softer rabbit furs with strong electropositivity could reduce the friction resistance between triboelectric materials to achieve higher outputs, [24] and ultralubricated ceramic bearings were adopted to further elongate the swing time after one triggering. First, the output performance of the segmented swing-structured fur-based TENG (SSF-TENG) with various segmented structures was systematically measured under the regular triggering.…”

Harvesting Multidirectional Breeze Energy and Self‐Powered Intelligent Fire Detection Systems Based on Triboelectric Nanogenerator and Fluid‐Dynamic Modeling

“…[13][14][15] However, the elastomer is subjected to complex stress and persistent fatigue rupture during working, which significantly affects the life and output performance of the device. [16,17] Generally, natural wind flows in a random direction and at low speed near the earth's surface. [18] Therefore, the design of low starting wind speed and multidirectional wind energy collection device is another current requirement for the FIV based TENG.…”

Direct-current generators based on conductive polymers for self-powered flexible devices

“…To solve the energy crisis, the approach of converting ambient mechanical energy into electrical energy is widely recognized for sustainable power source 1 – 6 . Self-powered devices that incorporate both energy-harvesting units 7 – 12 and functional units (such as sensors) 13 – 15 are of great interest in electronic devices 16 – 18 , photovoltaic devices 19 , 20 , photoelectric devices 21 , 22 and daily uses 23 . To enable the large-scale integration of multiple energy harvesting units to enhance the efficiency, the direct-current output can be recognized as an ideal alternative as it avoids the phase mismatch among separate devices.…”