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Flexible single-electrode triboelectric nanogenerator with MWCNT/PDMS composite film for environmental energy harvesting and human motion monitoring

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Abstract

With the rapid development of wearable electronic devices, modern portable energy sources pay more attention to lightweight, low cost, high flexibility and high efficiency. This paper proposed a flexible single-electrode triboelectric nanogenerator (S-TENG) composed of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film. The S-TENG has the advantages of high flexibility, high hydrophobicity, light weight, low cost, and high output efficiency. The peak-to-peak open circuit voltage can reach 435 V and the maximum short-circuit current density is 13 μA·cm−2 under continuous pressing. When the external load is 40 MΩ, the maximum output power density is 3.7 mW·cm−2. The S-TENG can not only harvest the mechanical energy generated by biological movement, but also can be used as a sensor to effectively detect human movement and handwriting traces. In addition, a 4 × 4 sensor array and a wireless transmission system were constructed to realize multi-point distributed detection and wireless transmission of portable smart terminals. The S-TENG can harvest energy from falling water droplets, uninterrupted water flow, wind and percussion sounds, which demonstrates its broad application prospects in the field of flexible wearables.

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摘要

随着可穿戴电子设备的快速发展, 现代便携式能源更加注重轻量化, 低成本, 高灵活性和高效率。本文提出一种由多壁碳纳米管 (MWCNT) /聚二甲基硅氧烷 (PDMS) 薄膜组成的柔性单电极摩擦纳米发电机 (S-TENG)。 该纳米发电机具有高柔韧性, 高疏水性, 重量轻, 成本低, 输出效率高等优势。在按压作用下峰值开路电压可达435 V, 最大短路电流密度为13 μA·cm−2。外部负载为 40 MΩ 时, 最大输出功率密度 3.7 mW·cm−2。该纳米发电机不仅可以收集生物运动机械能, 而且可以作为传感器实现对人体运动和手写痕迹的有效检测。此外, 构建了4×4传感阵列和无线传输系统, 实现了多点分布检测和便携式智能终端无线传输。该纳米发电机可从下落的水滴, 不间断的水流, 风和敲击声音中获取能量, 展示了其在柔性可穿戴领域的广阔应用前景。

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Acknowledgements

This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51777215).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Control Science and Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, China

    Hao Zhang, Dong-Zhi Zhang, Dong-Yue Wang, Zhen-Yuan Xu, Yan Yang & Bao Zhang

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  1. Hao Zhang
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  2. Dong-Zhi Zhang
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  5. Yan Yang
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Correspondence to Dong-Zhi Zhang.

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Zhang, H., Zhang, DZ., Wang, DY. et al. Flexible single-electrode triboelectric nanogenerator with MWCNT/PDMS composite film for environmental energy harvesting and human motion monitoring. Rare Met. 41, 3117–3128 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-022-02031-z

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