Sliding-Triboelectric Nanogenerators Based on In-Plane
Charge-Separation Mechanism
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Abstract
Aiming at harvesting ambient mechanical
energy for self-powered
systems, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have been recently developed
as a highly efficient, cost-effective and robust approach to generate
electricity from mechanical movements and vibrations on the basis
of the coupling between triboelectrification and electrostatic induction.
However, all of the previously demonstrated TENGs are based on vertical
separation of triboelectric-charged planes, which requires sophisticated
device structures to ensure enough resilience for the charge separation,
otherwise there is no output current. In this paper, we demonstrated
a newly designed TENG based on an in-plane charge separation process
using the relative sliding between two contacting surfaces. Using
Polyamide 6,6 (Nylon) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) films with
surface etched nanowires, the two polymers at the opposite ends of
the triboelectric series, the newly invented TENG produces an open-circuit
voltage up to ∼1300 V and a short-circuit current density of
4.1 mA/m<sup>2</sup> with a peak power density of 5.3 W/m<sup>2</sup>, which can be used as a direct power source for instantaneously
driving hundreds of serially connected light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
The working principle and the relationships between electrical outputs
and the sliding motion are fully elaborated and systematically studied,
providing a new mode of TENGs with diverse applications. Compared
to the existing vertical-touching based TENGs, this planar-sliding
TENG has a high efficiency, easy fabrication, and suitability for
many types of mechanical triggering. Furthermore, with the relationship
between the electrical output and the sliding motion being calibrated,
the sliding-based TENG could potentially be used as a self-powered
displacement/speed/acceleration sensor