Design standards for high-performance liquid-solid tubular triboelectric nanogenerators

Abstract

Liquid-solid tubular triboelectric nanogenerators (LST-TENGs) hold significant promise for environmental mechanical energy harvesting due to advantages such as low wear, long service life and simple fabrication. However, the lack of unified standards and norms of design leads the output performance still being lower than that of traditional solid-solid TENGs. In this study, we first report a comprehensive set of standards for designing high-performance LST-TENGs based on several of the most critical factors, including the selection of triboelectric materials, the choice of motion modes, and the determination of structural parameters. Guided by the designing standards, the charge generation capability of LST-TENGs is optimized and enhanced by over 100-fold. The transferred charge can reach up to 3.4 µC, which is a new record for all kinds of LST-TENGs. Notably, the practical application potential of design standards has been demonstrated in the actual harvesting of wave energy. This study establishes a fundamental design standard for designing high-performance LST-TENGs and holds excellent potential to accelerate the industrialization of TENGs.

Keywords

design standards / high performance / liquid-solid tubular / low-frequency energy / triboelectric nanogenerators

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2024 The Authors. SmartMat published by Tianjin University and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.