Jing You and oth. High-Electrification Performance and Mechanism of a Water-Solid Mode Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Jing You, Jiajia Shao, Yahua He, Frank Fei Yun, Khay Wai See, Zhong Lin Wang, Xiaolin Wang. — ACS Nano, 2020. — 9 p.With the advantages of superior wear resistance, mechanical durability, and stability, the liquid−solid mode triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has been attracting much attention in the field of energy harvesting and self-powered sensors. However, most reports are primarily observational, and there still lacks a universal model of this kind of TENG. Here, an equivalent circuit model and corresponding governing equations of a water−solid mode TENG are developed, which could easily be extended to other types of liquid−solid mode TENGs. Based on the first-order lumped circuit theory, the full equivalent circuit model of water−solid mode TENG is modeled as a series connection of two capacitors and a water resistor. Accordingly, its output characteristics and critical influences are examined, to investigate the relevant physical mechanism behind them. Afterward, a three-dimensional water−solid TENG array constructed from many single-wire TENGs is fabricated, which can not only harvest tiny amounts of energy from any movement of water, but also can verify our theoretical predictions. The fundamentals of thewater−solid mode TENG presented in this work could contribute to solving the problem of electrical phenomena on a liquid−solid interface, and may establish a sound basis for a thorough understanding of the liquid−solid mode TENG.