Flexible Triboelectric Nanogenerators: Principle And Fabrication

This chapter investigates the following five aspects: (I) It utilized the micro-nanointegrated fabrication technology mentioned above to fabricate nanogenerators and realized a novel high-performance sandwich-shaped triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG); (II) it established the theory model for three-layer TENG and obtained the numerical analysis of the device's electric output based on this model; (III) it thoroughly analyzed the working principle of sandwich-shaped TENG using the finite element method; (IV) it systematically tested its electric output performance and deeply studied the influence of frequency of applied force and the size of the device on device's output performance; and (V) it explored the performance of this sandwich-shaped TENG under different loads and validated its long-term stability and continuously working ability.One of the effective ways to respond the global energy crisis and provide green sustainable energy is to harvest energy from the environment where we live. As a new energy conversion method, TENG with the advantages of high-output ability and pollution-free to the environment has attracted much attention, which has been mentioned in Sect. 1.3. However, most of the existed mechanical energy in our environment has very low frequency, which would make it very difficult to directly harvest and utilize this type of energy. Thereby, we introduced a novel sandwich-shaped and high-performance TENG in this chapter, which could be employed to convert the low-frequency mechanical energy into electric energy. In this design, an aluminum film is fixed between two PDMS film. This will allow sandwichshaped TENG contact and separate twice under an applied pressure cycle, resulting in two electric output signals. The working principle of this sandwich-shaped TENG was simulated and studied by using the finite element method. To further enhance the output performance, the large-scale micro-/nanofabrication method was introduced to fabricate dual-scale structures to the PDMS surface. By the aid of the electric experiment platform, we systematically investigated the effects of applied force's frequency and device's diameter on the generator's electric performance. Without any other electric circuits, this generator could directly illuminated 5 commercial light-emitting diodes (LEDs). This work moves the TENGs much closer to their practical applications.