A Wireless Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Abstract

Abstract:We demonstrate a new paradigm for the wireless harvesting of mechanical energy via a 3D-printed triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) which comprises a graphene polylactic acid (gPLA) nanocomposite and Teflon. The synergistic combination of eco-friendly PLA with graphene in our TENG exhibited an output voltage > 2 kV with an instantaneous peak power of 70 mW, which in turn generated a strong electric field to enable the wireless transmission of harvested energy over a distance of 3 m. Specifically, we demonstrate wireless and secure actuatation of smart-home applications such as smart tint windows, temperature sensors, liquid crystal displays, and security alarms either with a single or a specific user-defined passcode of mechanical pulses (e.g., Fibonacci sequence). Notably, such high electric output of a gPLA-based TENG enabled unprecedented wireless transmission of harvested mechanical energy into a capacitor, thus obviating the need for 2 additional electronics or energy sources. The scalable additive manufacturing approach for gPLA-based TENGs, along with their high electrical output can revolutionize the present method of harnessing the mechanical energy available in our environment.

A Filter Paper‐Based Nanogenerator via Water‐Drop Flow

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proposed to harvest the ultrasonic wave's energy using zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowire arrays, [9] the nanogenerator has entered a period of rapid development. [10][11][12][13] Various energies have been harvested using many kinds of nanogenerators, [4] such as triboelectric nanogenerators, [13] PENGs, [14] thermal-electric nanogenerators, [15] and photoelectric nanogenerators. [16] In addition, the as-harvested energy has various resources, such as wind, [17][18][19] heat energy, [20,21] solar power, [22] vibration, [23,24] mechanical energy, [25] electromagnetic waves, [26] chemical energy, [27] and water energy.

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Wireless Power Transmission Enabled by a Triboelectric Nanogenerator via a Magnetic Interaction

“…An integrated charge-transfer period is formed from separation to contact to recovery by coupling of triboelectrification and electrostatic induction. [37][38][39][40][41][42][43] The tribo charges can be efficiently transferred between two Al electrodes when a vibration is applied on the TENG, which is in accord with the potential distribution simulated via COMSOL. The relative dielectric constants of Al and PTFE are used in the simulation are 81 and 2, respectively, and the ambience air boundaries are grounded.…”

“…Figure b (i → ii → iii → iv) shows the typical working mechanism of the TENG. An integrated charge‐transfer period is formed from separation to contact to recovery by coupling of triboelectrification and electrostatic induction . The tribo charges can be efficiently transferred between two Al electrodes when a vibration is applied on the TENG, which is in accord with the potential distribution simulated via COMSOL.…”

Bio‐Derived Natural Materials Based Triboelectric Devices for Self‐Powered Ubiquitous Wearable and Implantable Intelligent Devices

“…[24,48,50,65,66] Compared with traditional mechanical energy harvesting devices based on mechanisms such as piezoelectric [19,67,68] and electromagnetic effects, [69][70][71] TENG has its advantages regarding the versatile material selection, lightweight, flexibility, low cost, high conversion efficiency, etc. [25,33,34] The electrical outputs can be used to power small electronics (such as an electronic watch, LEDs, calculator, small sensors) [72][73][74][75][76][77] or as the sensing signal in self-powered sensor systems. [8,59,78,79] TENGs also exhibit potential for numerous human-integrated applications, such as harvesting the biomechanical energy (e.g., heart beating, breathing energy), [56,75,80,81] IoT, [72,82,83] HMIs, [24,36,84] wearable and implantable electronic devices, etc.…”