Thin and flexible self-powered vibration transducer employing triboelectric nanogeneration

• Main Authors: Shahmiri, Seyedeh Fereshteh, Bahr, Ryan, Bansal, Dhruva, Wang, Zhengjun, Wang, Zhong Lin, Osorio, Diego, Starner, Thad Eugene, Tentzeris, Emmanouil, Abowd, Gregory D, Zhang, Steven L, Xue, Qiuyue, McAughan, Peter, Arora, Nivedita, Gupta, Mohit, Wang, Yi-Cheng
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 05.12.2019
• Subjects: ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS; BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER; DEAF-AID SETS; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRIC MACHINES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; GENERATION; LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKEACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS

A vibration transducer for sensing vibrations includes a first flexible triboelectric member, a second flexible triboelectric member, a plurality of attachment points, a first electrode and a second electrode. The first flexible triboelectric member includes a first triboelectric layer and a material being on a first position on a triboelectric series. A conductive layer is deposited on the second side thereof. The second flexible triboelectric member includes a second triboelectric layer and a material being on a second position on the triboelectric series that is different from the first position on the triboelectric series. The second triboelectric member is adjacent to the first flexible triboelectric member. When the first triboelectric member comes into and out of contact with the second triboelectric member as a result of the vibrations, a triboelectric potential difference having a variable intensity corresponding to the vibrations can be sensed between the first and second triboelectric members.