Enhanced performance of ZnO microballoon arrays for a triboelectric nanogenerator

Abstract

In recent years, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), harvesting energy from the environment as a sustainable power source, have attracted great attention. Currently, many reports focus on the effect of surface modification on the electrical output performance of the TENG. In this work, we have fabricated vertically grown ZnO microballoon (ZnOMB) arrays on top of pyramid-featured PDMS patterned film, contacted with PTFE film to construct the TENG. The electrical output performances of the designed TENG are presented under external forces with different frequencies. The corresponding output open-circuit voltage with ZnOMBs could reach about 57 V the current density about 59 mA m at 100 Hz, which was about 2.3 times higher than without any ZnO. The global maximum of the instantaneous peak power could reach 1.1 W m when the external load resistance was about 2 MΩ. Furthermore, the electrical output of the fabricated device could light 30 commercial LED bulbs without any rectifier circuits or energy-storage elements. This clearly suggests that this kind of surface modification can dramatically enhance the output performance of the TENG. Moreover, the design of TENG demonstrated here can be applied to various energy harvesting applications.

A Flexible Lead‐Free BaTiO3/PDMS/C Composite Nanogenerator as a Piezoelectric Energy Harvester

“…[7,8] Originally,Z nO nanowire arrays were usedt of abricate these piezoelectric NGs because of their uniquep iezoelectric properties. [9,10] However, considering the relatively low piezoelectric coefficient of ZnO,i ti sd esirable to design NGs made from perovskite materials with large piezoelectric coefficients such as BaTiO 3 ,P b(Zr,Ti)O 3 (PZT) and Pb(Mg,Nb)O 3 -PbTiO 3 (PMN-PT). [11] Unfortunately,t he componentl ead in PZT and PMN-PT has the concern of its toxic effects on human health and causes environmental problems.…”

“…Among these, piezoelectric‐nanostructure‐based nanogenerators (NGs) show advantages because of their distinctive high power density, relatively smaller size, easy fabrication design, long cycle life, and the environmentally friendly characteristics . Originally, ZnO nanowire arrays were used to fabricate these piezoelectric NGs because of their unique piezoelectric properties . However, considering the relatively low piezoelectric coefficient of ZnO, it is desirable to design NGs made from perovskite materials with large piezoelectric coefficients such as BaTiO 3 , Pb(Zr,Ti)O 3 (PZT) and Pb(Mg,Nb)O 3 ‐PbTiO 3 (PMN‐PT) .…”

Hybrid Piezoelectric and Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Energy Harvesting and Walking Sensing

“…[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] In recent years, research efforts have been focused on obtaining the enhanced energy harvesting response using hybridization of the piezoelectric-triboelectric technology. [32] Hybrid piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerators (PTNG) have been reported with superior performance from composite materials (e.g., PDMS/MWCNT [33][34][35] , Oxide/P(VDF-TrFE), [36,37] or BaTiO 3 /polydimethylsiloxane, [38] or architected structures (e.g., ZnO nanostructure, [39,40] selfarched shape, [38] fabric woven pattern. [41] Figure 1a shows the self-powered pulse sensors based on the self-arched PTNG for real-time monitoring pulse waveform of the radial artery.…”

A self-powered triboelectric nanosensor for detecting the corrosion state of magnesium treated by micro-arc oxidation

“…Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) based on the triboelectric effect and electrostatic induction have attracted increasing attention since they were rst fabricated in 2012 because of their unique method of harvesting energy from the ambient environment. [1][2][3] In order to improve the performance of TENG, a combination of metal and polymer lms with large differences in triboelectric polarity is oen chosen as the friction material in conjunction with some improved methods, such as surface nanoscale treatment, 4,5 surface chemical modication, 6,7 and structural improvement. [8][9][10][11] However, some of these methods are too costly or require complex processing.…”