Ultrathin, Rollable, Paper-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Acoustic Energy Harvesting and Self-Powered Sound Recording

• Published in: ACS nano Vol. 9; no. 4; pp. 4236 - 4243
• Main Authors: Fan, Xing, Chen, Jun, Yang, Jin, Bai, Peng, Li, Zhaoling, Wang, Zhong Lin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 28.04.2015
• Subjects: Acoustics; Electronics; Energy harvesting; Gas turbine engines; Human; Microphones; Nanostructure; Sound recording; self-powered sound recording; triboelectric nanogenerator; rollable; paper-thin; acoustic energy harvesting
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5b00618

A 125 μm thickness, rollable, paper-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has been developed for harvesting sound wave energy, which is capable of delivering a maximum power density of 121 mW/m2 and 968 W/m3 under a sound pressure of 117 dBSPL. The TENG is designed in the contact-separation mode using membranes that have rationally designed holes at one side. The TENG can be implemented onto a commercial cell phone for acoustic energy harvesting from human talking; the electricity generated can be used to charge a capacitor at a rate of 0.144 V/s. Additionally, owing to the superior advantages of a broad working bandwidth, thin structure, and flexibility, a self-powered microphone for sound recording with rolled structure is demonstrated for all-sound recording without an angular dependence. The concept and design presented in this work can be extensively applied to a variety of other circumstances for either energy-harvesting or sensing purposes, for example, wearable and flexible electronics, military surveillance, jet engine noise reduction, low-cost implantable human ear, and wireless technology applications.