A Highly Efficient and Durable Kirigami Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Rotational Energy Harvesting

• Published in: Energies (Basel) Vol. 14; no. 4; p. 1120
• Main Authors: Kong, Dae Sol, Han, Jae Yeon, Ko, Young Joon, Park, Sang Hyeok, Lee, Minbaek, Jung, Jong Hoon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.02.2021
• Subjects: Bond strength; Chemical bonds; durability; efficiency; Electrodes; Energy; kirigami; Microscopy; Plasma; Polymers; rotational energy; Spectrum analysis; triboelectric nanogenerator; Vibration; United States > US
• ISSN: 1996-1073; 1996-1073
• DOI: 10.3390/en14041120

While sliding-mode triboelectric nanogenerators (S-TENGs) have been considered as one of the most promising devices for rotational energy harvesting, their inherently poor durability has been a serious bottleneck for applications. Herein, we report a three-dimensional kirigami TENG as a highly efficient and durable rotational energy harvesting device. The kirigami TENG consisted of cube-shaped paper, aluminum (Al) foil electrode and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) polymer film, and converted rotational motion into multiple folding-unfolding vibrations. The rotation-folding (R-F) kirigami TENG generated an open-circuit voltage of 31 V, a short-circuit current of 0.67 μA and an instantaneous power (power density) of 1.2 μW (0.13 μW/cm2) at 200 rpm, which was sufficient to turn on 25 light-emitting diodes and a thermo-hygrometer. The triboelectric outputs of the R-F kirigami TENG were only slightly decreased even after 288,000 continuous rotations, i.e., the output remained at 86% of its initial value. This work demonstrates that an R-F kirigami TENG could be a plausible candidate to efficiently harvest various forms of rotational energy with a long-term durability.