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Liquid-FEP-based U-tube triboelectric nanogenerator for harvesting water-wave energy

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Abstract

Harvesting ambient mechanical energy is a key technology for realizing self-powered electronics. With advantages of stability and durability, a liquid–solid-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has recently drawn much attention. However, the impacts of liquid properties on the TENG performance and the related working principle are still unclear. We assembled herein a U-tube TENG based on the liquid–solid mode and applied 11 liquids to study the effects of liquid properties on the TENG output performance. The results confirmed that the key factors influencing the output are polarity, dielectric constant, and affinity to fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP). Among the 11 liquids, the pure water-based U-tube TENG exhibited the best output with an open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 81.7 V and a short-circuit current (Isc) of 0.26 μA for the shaking mode (0.5 Hz), which can further increase to 93.0 V and 0.48 μA, respectively, for the horizontal shifting mode (1.25 Hz). The U-tube TENG can be utilized as a self-powered concentration sensor (component concentration or metalion concentration) for an aqueous solution with an accuracy higher than 92%. Finally, an upgraded sandwich-like water-FEP U-tube TENG was applied to harvest water-wave energy, showing a high output with Voc of 350 V, Isc of 1.75 μA, and power density of 2.04 W/m3. We successfully lighted up 60 LEDs and powered a temperature–humidity meter. Given its high output performance, the water-FEP U-tube TENG is a very promising approach for harvesting water-wave energy for self-powered electronics.

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Acknowledgements

Research was supported by the KAUST, the Hightower Chair foundation, and the “thousands talents” program for pioneer researcher and his innovation team, China, the National Key R & D Project from the Ministry of Science and Technology (Nos. 2016YFA0202704 and 2016YFA0202702), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51432005, 5151101243, and 51561145021), and the Chinese Scholars Council.

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Author notes

  1. Lun Pan and Jiyu Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Material Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, 30332, USA

    Lun Pan, Jiyu Wang, Peihong Wang, Yi-Cheng Wang & Zhong Lin Wang

  2. Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of the Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Lun Pan, Ruijie Gao, Xiangwen Zhang & Ji-Jun Zou

  3. Collaborative Innovative Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin, 300072, China

    Lun Pan, Ruijie Gao, Xiangwen Zhang & Ji-Jun Zou

  4. Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China

    Zhong Lin Wang

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  1. Lun Pan
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Correspondence to Zhong Lin Wang.

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Pan, L., Wang, J., Wang, P. et al. Liquid-FEP-based U-tube triboelectric nanogenerator for harvesting water-wave energy. Nano Res. 11, 4062–4073 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-018-1989-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-018-1989-9

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