A Soft and Robust Spring Based Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Harvesting Arbitrary Directional Vibration Energy and Self‐Powered Vibration Sensing

Abstract

Vibration is a common mechanical phenomenon and possesses mechanical energy in ambient environment, which can serve as a sustainable source of power for equipment and devices if it can be effectively collected. In the present work, a novel soft and robust triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) made of a silicone rubber‐spring helical structure with nanocomposite‐based elastomeric electrodes is proposed. Such a spring based TENG (S‐TENG) structure operates in the contact‐separation mode upon vibrating and can effectively convert mechanical energy from ambient excitation into electrical energy. The two fundamental vibration modes resulting from the vertical and horizontal excitation are analyzed theoretically, numerically, and experimentally. Under the resonant states of the S‐TENG, its peak power density is found to be 240 and 45 mW m−2 with an external load of 10 MΩ and an acceleration amplitude of 23 m s−2. Additionally, the dependence of the S‐TENG's output signal on the ambient excitation can be used as a prime self‐powered active vibration sensor that can be applied to monitor the acceleration and frequency of the ambient excitation. Therefore, the newly designed S‐TENG has a great potential in harvesting arbitrary directional vibration energy and serving as a self‐powered vibration sensor.

Template‐Assisted Fabrication of Nanostructured Arrays for Sensing Applications

“…Future research into the template-assisted fabrication of nanostructured arrays should focus on wireless portability and miniaturization capability.S ince the wide-range application of notebooks and cell phones, the wireless portability of sensors integrated into such portable electronics has become increasingly important.C ombining arrays with the triboelectric effect looks promising for the wireless portability of the nanostructure-array-based sensor.I nr ecent studies conducted by Wang et al,v ibrations from touch or water waves produce the triboelectric effect in the arrays. [54] This generated environmental power,r anging from micro-to milliwatts,i sa pplicable for array-based sensoro perations. Hence, such self-powered nanosystemsf ulfil the wireless portability needs of array-based sensors.…”

Nature Driven Bio‐Piezoelectric/Triboelectric Nanogenerator as Next‐Generation Green Energy Harvester for Smart and Pollution Free Society

“…2019, 9,1803027 Lotus leaf TNG (LL-TNG), solid-liquid contact electrification TNG ≈15-20 nA [170] Electrospun silk nanofiber ≈15 V ≈2.5 µA ≈4.3 mW m −2 [152] Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) ≈13 V ≈11 µA ≈4.8 mW m −2 [154] Chitosan biopolymers such as i) chitosan with 10% acetic acid, ii) pure chitosan, iii) chitosan with lignin, iv) chitosan with starch, v) chitosan with glycerol Energy Mater.…”

The Current Development and Future Outlook of Triboelectric Nanogenerators: A Survey of Literature

“…Figure shows the collection of major applications of TENGs previously published articles. There are three major directions: using TENG as self‐powered sensors/systems for biomedical monitoring, human‐machine interface for security or identification, and robotics; using TENG for harvesting water‐wave energy to achieve the concept of blue energy; using TENG as sustainable micro/nanopower sources for small electronic devices to achieve the idea of self‐powering devices and so on . The results suggest that TENGs are very promising with a wide range of applications in different fields.…”