Shengming Li

A Flexible Fiber‐Based Supercapacitor–Triboelectric‐Nanogenerator Power System for Wearable Electronics

A flexible self-charging power system is built by integrating a fiber-based supercapacitor with a fiber-based triboelectric nanogenerator for harvesting mechanical energy from human motion. The fiber-based supercapacitor exhibits outstanding electrochemical properties, owing to the excellent pseudocapacitance of well-prepared RuO2 ·xH2 O by a vapor-phase hydrothermal method as the active material. The approach is a step forward toward self-powered wearable electronics.

Effective energy storage from a triboelectric nanogenerator

To sustainably power electronics by harvesting mechanical energy using nanogenerators, energy storage is essential to supply a regulated and stable electric output, which is traditionally realized by a direct connection between the two components through a rectifier. However, this may lead to low energy-storage efficiency. Here, we rationally design a charging cycle to maximize energy-storage efficiency by modulating the charge flow in the system, which is demonstrated on a triboelectric nanogenerator by adding a motion-triggered switch. Both theoretical and experimental comparisons show that the designed charging cycle can enhance the charging rate, improve the maximum energy-storage efficiency by up to 50% and promote the saturation voltage by at least a factor of two. This represents a progress to effectively store the energy harvested by nanogenerators with the aim to utilize ambient mechanical energy to drive portable/wearable/implantable electronics.

Sustainably powering wearable electronics solely by biomechanical energy

Harvesting biomechanical energy is an important route for providing electricity to sustainably drive wearable electronics, which currently still use batteries and therefore need to be charged or replaced/disposed frequently. Here we report an approach that can continuously power wearable electronics only by human motion, realized through a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with optimized materials and structural design. Fabricated by elastomeric materials and a helix inner electrode sticking on a tube with the dielectric layer and outer electrode, the TENG has desirable features including flexibility, stretchability, isotropy, weavability, water-resistance and a high surface charge density of 250 μC m−2. With only the energy extracted from walking or jogging by the TENG that is built in outsoles, wearable electronics such as an electronic watch and fitness tracker can be immediately and continuously powered.

A highly shape-adaptive, stretchable design based on conductive liquid for energy harvesting and self-powered biomechanical monitoring

Researchers report a scalable approach for highly deformable and stretchable energy harvesters and self-powered sensors. The rapid growth of deformable and stretchable electronics calls for a deformable and stretchable power source. We report a scalable approach for energy harvesters and self-powered sensors that can be highly deformable and stretchable. With conductive liquid contained in a polymer cover, a shape-adaptive triboelectric nanogenerator (saTENG) unit can effectively harvest energy in various working modes. The saTENG can maintain its performance under a strain of as large as 300%. The saTENG is so flexible that it can be conformed to any three-dimensional and curvilinear surface. We demonstrate applications of the saTENG as a wearable power source and self-powered sensor to monitor biomechanical motion. A bracelet-like saTENG worn on the wrist can light up more than 80 light-emitting diodes. Owing to the highly scalable manufacturing process, the saTENG can be easily applied for large-area energy harvesting. In addition, the saTENG can be extended to extract energy from mechanical motion using flowing water as the electrode. This approach provides a new prospect for deformable and stretchable power sources, as well as self-powered sensors, and has potential applications in various areas such as robotics, biomechanics, physiology, kinesiology, and entertainment.

Harvesting Broad Frequency Band Blue Energy by a Triboelectric–Electromagnetic Hybrid Nanogenerator

Ocean wave associated energy is huge, but it has little use toward world energy. Although such blue energy is capable of meeting all of our energy needs, there is no effective way to harvest it due to its low frequency and irregular amplitude, which may restrict the application of traditional power generators. In this work, we report a hybrid nanogenerator that consists of a spiral-interdigitated-electrode triboelectric nanogenerator (S-TENG) and a wrap-around electromagnetic generator (W-EMG) for harvesting ocean energy. In this design, the S-TENG can be fully isolated from the external environment through packaging and indirectly driven by the noncontact attractive forces between pairs of magnets, and W-EMG can be easily hybridized. Notably, the hybrid nanogenerator could generate electricity under either rotation mode or fluctuation mode to collect energy in ocean tide, current, and wave energy due to the unique structural design. In addition, the characteristics and advantages of outputs indicate that the S-TENG is irreplaceable for harvesting low rotation speeds (<100 rpm) or motion frequencies (<2 Hz) energy, which fits the frequency range for most of the water wave based blue energy, while W-EMG is able to produce larger output at high frequencies (>10 Hz). The complementary output can be maximized and hybridized for harvesting energy in a broad frequency range. Finally, a single hybrid nanogenerator unit was demonstrated to harvest blue energy as a practical power source to drive several LEDs under different simulated water wave conditions. We also proposed a blue energy harvesting system floating on the ocean surface that could simultaneously harvest wind, solar, and wave energy. The proposed hybrid nanogenerator renders an effective and sustainable progress in practical applications of the hybrid nanogenerator toward harvesting water wave energy offered by nature.

Stretchable and Waterproof Self-Charging Power System for Harvesting Energy from Diverse Deformation and Powering Wearable Electronics

A soft, stretchable, and fully enclosed self-charging power system is developed by seamlessly combining a stretchable triboelectric nanogenerator with stretchable supercapacitors, which can be subject to and harvest energy from almost all kinds of large-degree deformation due to its fully soft structure. The power system is washable and waterproof owing to its fully enclosed structure and hydrophobic property of its exterior surface. The power system can be worn on the human body to effectively scavenge energy from various kinds of human motion, and it is demonstrated that the wearable power source is able to drive an electronic watch. This work provides a feasible approach to design stretchable, wearable power sources and electronics.

Largely Improving the Robustness and Lifetime of Triboelectric Nanogenerators through Automatic Transition between Contact and Noncontact Working States.

Although a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has been developed to be an efficient approach to harvest mechanical energy, its robustness and lifetime are still to be improved through an effective and widely applicable way. Here, we show a rational designing methodology for achieving a significant improvement of the long-term stability of TENGs through automatic transition between contact and noncontact working states. This is realized by structurally creating two opposite forces in the moving part of the TENG, in which the pulling-away force is controlled by external mechanical motions. In this way, TENGs can work in the noncontact state with minimum surface wear and also transit into contact state intermittently to maintain high triboelectric charge density. A wind-driven disk-based TENG and a rotary barrel-based TENG that can realize automatic state transition under different wind speeds and rotation speeds, respectively, have been demonstrated as two examples, in which their robustness has been largely improved through this automatic transition. This methodology will further expand the practical application of TENGs for long-time usage and for harvesting mechanical energies with fluctuating intensities.

All-Elastomer-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerator as a Keyboard Cover To Harvest Typing Energy

The drastic expansion of consumer electronics (like personal computers, touch pads, smart phones, etc.) creates many human-machine interfaces and multiple types of interactions between human and electronics. Considering the high frequency of such operations in our daily life, an extraordinary amount of biomechanical energy from typing or pressing buttons is available. In this study, we have demonstrated a highly flexible triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) solely made from elastomeric materials as a cover on a conventional keyboard to harvest biomechanical energy from typing. A dual-mode working mechanism is established with a high transferred charge density of ∼140 μC/m(2) due to both structural and material innovations. We have also carried out fundamental investigations of its performance dependence on various structural factors for optimizing the electric output in practice. The fully packaged keyboard-shaped TENG is further integrated with a horn-like polypyrrole-based supercapacitor as a self-powered system. Typing in normal speed for 1 h, ∼8 × 10(-4) J electricity could be stored, which is capable of driving an electronic thermometer/hydrometer. Our keyboard cover also performs outstanding long-term stability, water resistance, as well as insensitivity to surface conditions, and the last feature makes it useful to research the typing behaviors of different people.

Excluding Contact Electrification in Surface Potential Measurement Using Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy

Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM), a characterization method that could image surface potentials of materials at the nanoscale, has extensive applications in characterizing the electric and electronic properties of metal, semiconductor, and insulator materials. However, it requires deep understanding of the physics of the measuring process and being able to rule out factors that may cause artifacts to obtain accurate results. In the most commonly used dual-pass KPFM, the probe works in tapping mode to obtain surface topography information in a first pass before lifting to a certain height to measure the surface potential. In this paper, we have demonstrated that the tapping-mode topography scan pass during the typical dual-pass KPFM measurement may trigger contact electrification between the probe and the sample, which leads to a charged sample surface and thus can introduce a significant error to the surface potential measurement. Contact electrification will happen when the probe enters into the repulsive force regime of a tip-sample interaction, and this can be detected by the phase shift of the probe vibration. In addition, the influences of scanning parameters, sample properties, and the probes attributes have also been examined, in which lower free cantilever vibration amplitude, larger adhesion between the probe tip and the sample, and lower cantilever spring constant of the probe are less likely to trigger contact electrification. Finally, we have put forward a guideline to rationally decouple contact electrification from the surface potential measurement. They are decreasing the free amplitude, increasing the set-point amplitude, and using probes with a lower spring constant.

Effect of contact- and sliding-mode electrification on nanoscale charge transfer for energy harvesting

The process of charge transfer based on triboelectrification (TE) and contact electrification (CE) has been recently utilized as the basis for a new and promising energy harvesting technology, i.e., triboelectric nanogenerators, as well as selfpowered sensors and systems. The electrostatic charge transfer between two surfaces can occur in both the TE and the CE modes depending on the involvement of relative sliding friction. Does the sliding behavior in TE induce any fundamental difference in the charge transfer from the CE? Few studies are available on this comparison because of the challenges in ruling out the effect of the contact area using traditional macro-scale characterization methods. This paper provides the first study on the fundamental differences in CE and TE at the nanoscale based on scanning probe microscopic methods. A quantitative comparison of the two processes at equivalent contact time and force is provided, and the results suggest that the charge transfer from TE is much faster than that from CE, but the saturation value of the transferred charge density is the same. The measured frictional energy dissipation of ∼11 eV when the tip scans over distance of 1 Å sheds light on a potential mechanism: The friction may facilitate the charge transfer process via electronic excitation. These results provide fundamental guidance for the selection of materials and device structures to enable the TE or the CE in different applications; the CE mode is favorable for frequent moderate contact such as vibration energy harvesting and the TE mode is favorable for instant movement such as harvesting of energy from human walking.