Piezoelectric peptide-based nanogenerator enhanced by single-electrode triboelectric nanogenerator

Abstract

Peptide has recently been demonstrated as a sustainable and smart material for piezoelectric energy conversion. Although the power output was improved compared to other biomaterials, the use of a piezoelectric device alone can only capture the energy from the minute deformation in materials. In comparison, the triboelectric effect can convert mechanical energy from large motion. Consequently, utilizing both piezoelectric and triboelectric effects is of significant research interest due to their complementary energy conversion mechanisms. Here we demonstrated a hybrid nanogenerator that combined a peptide-based piezoelectric nanogenerator with a single-electrode triboelectric nanogenerator. Our device structure enabled the voltage and current outputs of each individual type of nanogenerator to be superposed in the hybrid nanogenerator, producing overall constructive outputs. The design of our device also enabled a simplified configuration of hybrid nanogenerator. This study is important not only for the enhancement of peptide-based piezoelectric device but also for the future design of hybrid piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerators.

Biomolecular Piezoelectric Materials: From Amino Acids to Living Tissues

“…[76] The di-phenylalanine (FF), the dipeptides of two phenylalanine (F), is one of the most notable piezoelectric biomolecules. [77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88] The FF dipeptide can self-assemble into well-ordered nano-microtubes by a hydrogen bonding and π-π stacking to form a non-centrosymmetric hexagonal crystal structure (C 6 ) that can exhibit piezoelectricity (Figure 5a). [89][90][91][92][93][94] In 2010 by Kholkin et al, FF nano-microtubes were synthesized by a solution process and examined by piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) technique for the first time.…”

Peptide Nanophotonics: From Optical Waveguiding to Precise Medicine and Multifunctional Biochips

“…Intensive investigations of different peptide nanostructures and especially diphenylalanine (FF) nanotubes revealed unique physical properties such as piezoelectric effect, semiconducting properties, high mechanical rigidity and stiffness, quantum confinement, nanoscale charge storage, and more. These superior physical properties allowed to demonstrate promising applications of peptide nanostructures, such as autonomous motors, piezoelectric power generators, drug delivery systems, and more. However chaotic distribution of self‐assembled peptide functional nanounits remains the main obstacle for any development of peptide‐based engineering of practical devices.…”

“…[24,25] The third direction is a new generation of bioinspired self-assembled synthetic peptide nanomaterials, [26][27][28] their nanotechnology, [29,30] physics, and engineering. [31][32][33][34] These materials of biological origin already showed potential applications in a variety of new fields, [35] such as piezoelectric energy harvesting devices and sensors, [36,37] displays and light-emitting devices, [38] superhydrophobic surfaces for self-cleaning, [29] composite reinforcement scaffolds, [39] flexible biodegradable electronics, [34] and more.…”

Peptide Integrated Optics

“…The third direction is diverse applications of the synthetic biostructures in nanotechnology, where they are considered as promising technological building units . Observed remarkable functional physical properties of different peptide nanostructures, such as high mechanical rigidity, quantum confinement, piezoelectric, nonlinear optical phenomena, electro‐optic effect, and optical waveguiding capability, make them potential candidates for novel application fields.…”

“…One of them is peptide piezoelectric nanogenerator. The device based on normally oriented diphenylalanine piezoelectric nanotubes enables energy harvesting and is considered as renewable and biocompatible energy source for biomedical applications …”