Flexible Single-Electrode Triboelectric Nanogenerator and Body Moving Sensor Based on Porous Na₂CO₃/Polydimethylsiloxane Film

Abstract

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) converting mechanical energy into electrical energy have received much attention because of their huge potential applications for supplying power to electronic devices. Improving the performance of TENGs has become a research hot point because of their output limited current. In this paper, we propose a flexible single-electrode triboelectric nanogenerator based on porous Na₂CO₃/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) structure to enhance the triboelectric performance for nanogenerators. To compare their output performance, NaCl and sugar are normally used as sacrificial template for triboelectric nanogenerator. As an experimental result, the nanogenerator based on porous Na₂CO₃/PDMS structure obtains the open-circuit voltage of 125 V and maximum output current of 100 μA, which are higher than that generated by NaCl/PDMS and sugar/PDMS TENGs. And the generated electric energy of Na₂CO₃/PDMS TENG could instantaneously power 42 commercial light-emitting diodes without any energy storage devices. This developed porous Na₂CO₃/PDMS TENG could open a new application field for self-powered personal electronics because of its flexibility, simple manufacturing process, and the ability to harvest mechanical energy from human motions.