Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Harvesting Diverse Water Kinetic Energy

Abstract

The water covering the Earth’s surface not only supports life but also contains a tremendous amount of energy. Water energy is the most important and widely used renewable energy source in the environment, and the ability to extract the mechanical energy of water is of particular interest since moving water is ubiquitous and abundant, from flowing rivers to falling rain drops. In recent years, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have been promising for applications in harvesting kinetic energy from water due to their merits of low cost, light weight, simple structure, and abundant choice of materials. Furthermore, TENGs can also be utilized as self-powered active sensors for monitoring water environments, which relies on the output signals of the TENGs caused by the movement and composition of water. Here, TENGs targeting the harvest of different water energy sources have been systematically summarized and analyzed. The TENGs for harvesting different forms of water energy are introduced and divided on the basis of their basic working principles and modes, i.e., in the cases of solid–solid and solid–liquid. A detailed review of recent important progress in TENG-based water energy harvesting is presented. At last, based on recent progresses, the existing challenges and future prospects for TENG-based water energy harvesting are also discussed.

A Review of Fluid Energy Converters Based on Triboelectric Nanogenerators: Performance Analysis from Energy Conversion

“…Since much literature has already introduced them in detail, this article will not repeat them [46,53]. Interestingly, some hybrid generators based on TENG and other generators combine multiple working modes to efficiently collect fluid energy [54,55]. In general, TENGs are mostly combined with PENGs and EMGs, which can effectively improve the energy Interestingly, some hybrid generators based on TENG and other generators combine multiple working modes to efficiently collect fluid energy [54,55].…”

“…Interestingly, some hybrid generators based on TENG and other generators combine multiple working modes to efficiently collect fluid energy [54,55]. In general, TENGs are mostly combined with PENGs and EMGs, which can effectively improve the energy Interestingly, some hybrid generators based on TENG and other generators combine multiple working modes to efficiently collect fluid energy [54,55]. In general, TENGs are mostly combined with PENGs and EMGs, which can effectively improve the energy conversion efficiency of hybrid generators [54,56].…”

“…In general, TENGs are mostly combined with PENGs and EMGs, which can effectively improve the energy Interestingly, some hybrid generators based on TENG and other generators combine multiple working modes to efficiently collect fluid energy [54,55]. In general, TENGs are mostly combined with PENGs and EMGs, which can effectively improve the energy conversion efficiency of hybrid generators [54,56]. For example, the combination of TENGs and PENGs is one of the best ways to optimize the performance of a single device [54].…”

A Critical Review on Triboelectric Nanogenerators (TENGs) with Flame Retardant, Antibacterial, Self-Cleaning, or Water Repellent Properties

“…Such materials are also excellent propositions for textiles that are prone to contamination. Again, TENGs are known to show decreased performance in high humidity levels, and moisture damage deteriorates their performance. , Having waterproof TENGs will be able to provide a well-rounded solution to such a problem, along with capabilities of energy harvesting from water droplets or waves. − …”

Highly Sensitive Self-Powered Biomedical Applications Using Triboelectric Nanogenerator

“…To convert mechanical energy, the piezoelectric effect has shown a great contribution, and a lot of research has been carried out and continues to be on it [25,26]. Currently, for scavenging mechanical energy, the triboelectric nanogenerator [TENG] has attracted the attention of the scientific community and plenty of research has continued into different applications for the technology, which was invented a decade ago by Z. L. Wang [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. The main advantage of this energy scavenger is the choosing of diverse materials, since almost every material takes part in triboelectrification in contact with other materials, and they become positively and negatively charged [36][37][38][39][40][41].…”