Concepedia

Bifilar‐Pendulum‐Assisted Multilayer‐Structured Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Wave Energy Harvesting

Chuguo Zhang, Linglin Zhou, Ping Cheng, Di Liu, Chunlei Zhang, Xinyuan Li, Shaoxin Li, Jie Wang, Zhong Lin Wang

Advanced Energy Materials · 2021 · 136 citations · 46 references

TL;DR

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are a cost‑effective technology for harvesting low‑frequency (<5 Hz) wave energy. This study reports bifilar‑pendulum‑assisted multilayer‑structured TENG modules integrated into a vessel, achieving high output and adaptive capacity in real marine environments. The modules are mounted on a vessel platform to shield them from marine conditions, enabling easy maintenance, connection, and long‑term stable operation. The optimized BM‑TENG delivers a milestone power density of 200 W m⁻³—1–2 orders of magnitude higher than prior work—and demonstrates a new design methodology for efficient renewable energy harvesting.

Abstract

Abstract Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have been introduced as a new cost‐effective technology for harvesting renewable wave energy for their unmatchable performance in low frequency (<5 Hz). Here, bifilar‐pendulum‐assisted multilayer‐structured triboelectric nanogenerator (BM‐TENG) modules incorporated into a vessel for wave energy harvesting are reported, which have a high output performance and adaptive capacity in actual marine environment. Compared with previous research work on wave energy collection by TENG, the designed BM‐TENG, which is optimized by the structure and material, presents a milestone power density of 200 W m −3 and this performance is an improvement of 1–2 orders of magnitude. More importantly, by using a vessel as a platform, TENG can be integrated into it to eliminate the impact of the marine environment and enable convenient maintenance, easy connection, and long‐term stable operation of TENG. The findings provide not only a new design methodology for TENG but also a feasible method to harvest renewable energy efficiently.