Hybridized Mechanical and Solar Energy-Driven Self-Powered Hydrogen Production

Abstract

HIGHLIGHTS• A hybridized mechanical and solar energy-driven hydrogen production system was developed.• A rotatory disc-shaped triboelectric nanogenerator (RD-TENG) enables to harvest mechanical energy from water flow and functions as a sufficient external power source.• WO 3 /BiVO 4 heterojunction is fabricated as photoanodes in the self-powered photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell, and the hydrogen production rate reaches to 7.27 μL min −1 under sunlight illumination with the energy conversion efficiency of 2.59%.ABSTRACT Photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation is a promising approach to address the environmental pollution and energy crisis. In this work, we present a hybridized mechanical and solar energy-driven selfpowered hydrogen production system. A rotatory disc-shaped triboelectric nanogenerator was employed to harvest mechanical energy from water and functions as a sufficient external power source. WO 3 /BiVO 4 heterojunction photoanode was synthesized in a PEC water-splitting cell to produce H 2 .After transformation and rectification, the peak current reaches 0.1 mA at the rotation speed of 60 rpm. In this case, the H 2 evolution process only occurs with sunlight irradiation. When the rotation speed is over 130 rpm, the peak photocurrent and peak dark current have nearly equal value. Direct electrolysis of water is almost simultaneous with photoelectrocatalysis of water. It is worth noting that the hydrogen production rate increases to 5.45 and 7.27 μL min −1 without or with light illumination at 160 rpm. The corresponding energy conversion efficiency is calculated to be 2.43% and 2.59%, respectively. All the results demonstrate such a self-powered system can successfully achieve the PEC hydrogen generation, exhibiting promising possibility of energy conversion.

Hybridized nanogenerators for effectively scavenging mechanical and solar energies

“…The solar thermal conversion could convert solar radiation into heat and then generate electrical output based on a thermoelectric conversion system. Photovoltaic devices are considered to be the most promising energy conversion technology in the next decade because they can convert solar energy into electricity directly based on the photovoltaic effect ( Dudem et al., 2016 ; Li et al., 2020 ; Liu et al., 2018b ; Wang et al., 2016a ; Wei et al, 2020 ; Zhang et al., 2016b ). After decades of creative progress, there has been a lot of mature achievement around the solar energy collection technology based on the photothermal and photoelectric effect.…”

“…In addition to the planar structure, the rotatory-disc-shaped devices are also commonly used in energy harvester for their unique structural characteristics. Lately, a hybridized energy system based on a rotatable TENG and WO 3 /BiVO 4 heterojunction solar cell has been demonstrated, which can harvest mechanical energy in water ( Wei et al, 2020 ). The schematic of the self-powered hydrogen generation system is exhibited in Figure 11 F, and the insert is the photograph of the TENG model.…”

“… (F and G) The schematic diagram of the self-powered hydrogen generation system and the rate of hydrogen production at different conditions. Reproduced with permission, from ref ( Wei et al, 2020 ), Copyright 2020, Springer. …”

Blue Energy Collection toward All‐Hours Self‐Powered Chemical Energy Conversion

“…Many efforts with TENGs have already been undertaken to achieve the efficient collection of blue energy. [ 6–12 ] Many efforts with TENGs have already been undertaken to achieve the efficient collection of blue energy. [ 13–20 ] However, considering that the richest blue energy is generally in faraway ocean, it is still a great challenge to effectively use the generated electrical energy from TENGs when the cable for the electricity transmission is impractical.…”

A Triboelectric Nanogenerator Consisting of Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) Pellet for Self‐Powered Detection of Mechanical Faults and Inclination in Dynamic Mechanics

“…In general, to detect such kinds of problems, regularly manual checks are adopted, [26,27] which, however, are both inefficient and inaccurate and often fail to detect potential faults in time. [28,29] Therefore, it is highly expected that a new approach will be invented to inspect potential mechanical failure in real time and with high accuracy.…”