Triboelectric Nanogenerators Based on Polyimide Membranes Doped with Barium Titanate Nanoparticles and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

High performance is always the research objective in developing triboelectric nanogenerators(TENGs) for future versatile applications.In this study, flexible triboelectric membranes were prepared based on polyimide(PI) membranes doped with barium titanate(BTO) nanoparticles and multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs).The piezoelectric BTO nanoparticles were incorporated to boost the electric outputs by the synergistic effect of piezoelectricity and triboelectricity and MWCNTs were incorporated to provide a microcapacitor structure for enhancing the performance of TENGs.When the mass fraction of the BTO nanoparticle was 10% and the mass fraction of the MWCNT was 0.1%, the corresponding TENG achieved optimum electric outputs(an open-circuit voltage of around 65 V, a short-circuit current of about 20.0 μA and a transferred charge of about 25.0 nC), much higher than those of the TENG with a single PI membrane.The TENG is potentially used to supply energy for commercial light-emitting diodes and as self-powered sensors to monitor human physical training conditions.This research provides a guideline for developing TENGs with high performance, which is crucial for their long-term use.

Keywords

triboelectric nanogenerator(TENG) / energy harvesting / multi-walled carbon nanotube(MWCNT) / barium titanate(BTO) / polyimide(PI)

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Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China(52103267)