volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

In recent years, harvesting abundant, clean and renewable wave energy from the ocean has become one of the most promising ways to obtain electricity. However, the multi-directional nature of waves and the low frequency of the movement pose a current challenge. We designed and fabricated an all-directional triboelectric nanogenerator (AD-TENG) with a biomimetic snail golden spiral. It consists of an electric energy collector in the vertical direction and another in the horizontal direction, and mainly operates through the contact separation method. The AD-TENG converted mechanical energy into electrical energy with the swinging of the pendulum and folding movements. The spiral structure of AD-TENG can harvest energy in all horizontal directions, and the wiring is simple, requiring only two positive and negative wires. In a water wave environment, the AD-TENG charged a capacitor of 100 μF to a voltage of 3 V in 2 min, lighting up 150 LED bulbs. The experiment measured the peak-to-peak voltage (Vpp) from 15 different angles and calculated the error ``e'' as 4.6%. The multi-degree-of-freedom energy harvesting and adaptability to various water wave motions of the AD-TENG offer great potential for the development of self-powered marine sensors.

1. Zheng, Haiwu, Yunlong Zi, Xu He, Hengyu Guo, Ying-Chih Lai, Jie Wang, Steven L. Zhang, Changsheng Wu, Gang Cheng, and Zhong Lin Wang, "Concurrent harvesting of ambient energy by hybrid nanogenerators for wearable self-powered systems and active remote sensing," ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 10, No. 17, 14708-14715, 2018.
doi:10.1021/acsami.8b01635

2. Yin, Xing, Di Liu, Linglin Zhou, Xinyuan Li, Chunlei Zhang, Ping Cheng, Hengyu Guo, Weixing Song, Jie Wang, and Zhong Lin Wang, "Structure and dimension effects on the performance of layered triboelectric nanogenerators in contact-separation mode," ACS Nano, Vol. 13, No. 1, 698-705, 2019.
doi:10.1021/acsnano.8b07935

3. Yang, Hongmei, Mingming Deng, Qixuan Zeng, Xuemei Zhang, Jie Hu, Qian Tang, Huake Yang, Chenguo Hu, Yi Xi, and Zhong Lin Wang, "Polydirectional microvibration energy collection for self-powered multifunctional systems based on hybridized nanogenerators," ACS Nano, Vol. 14, No. 3, 3328-3336, 2020.
doi:10.1021/acsnano.9b08998

4. Xia, Kequan, Jiangming Fu, and Zhiwei Xu, "Multiple-frequency high-output triboelectric nanogenerator based on a water balloon for all-weather water wave energy harvesting," Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 10, No. 28, 2000426, 2020.

5. Xiang, Huijing, Lin Peng, Qiuxiang Yang, Zhong Lin Wang, and Xia Cao, "Triboelectric nanogenerator for high-entropy energy, self-powered sensors, and popular education," Science Advances, Vol. 10, No. 48, eads2291, 2024.
doi:10.1126/sciadv.ads2291

6. Saadatnia, Zia, Ebrahim Esmailzadeh, and Hani E. Naguib, "Design, simulation, and experimental characterization of a heaving triboelectric-electromagnetic wave energy harvester," Nano Energy, Vol. 50, 281-290, 2018.
doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2018.05.059

7. Baytekin, H. Tarik, Bilge Baytekin, Siowling Soh, and Bartosz A. Grzybowski, "Is water necessary for contact electrification?," Angewandte Chemie-International Edition, Vol. 50, No. 30, 6766-6770, 2011.
doi:10.1002/anie.201008051

8. Baytekin, H. Tarik, Alexander Z. Patashinski, M. Branicki, Bilge Baytekin, S. Soh, and Bartosz A. Grzybowski, "The mosaic of surface charge in contact electrification," Science, Vol. 333, No. 6040, 308-312, 2011.
doi:10.1126/science.1201512

9. Wang, Zhong Lin, "Triboelectric nanogenerators as new energy technology and self --- Powered sensors-principles, problems and perspectives," Faraday Discussions, Vol. 176, 447-458, 2014.

10. Cole, Jesse J., Chad R. Barry, Robert J. Knuesel, Xinyu Wang, and Heiko O. Jacobs, "Nanocontact electrification: Patterned surface charges affecting adhesion, transfer, and printing," Langmuir, Vol. 27, No. 11, 7321-7329, 2011.
doi:10.1021/la200773x

11. McCarty, Logan S. and George M. Whitesides, "Electrostatic charging due to separation of ions at interfaces: Contact electrification of ionic electrets," Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 47, No. 12, 2188-2207, 2008.

12. Yuan, Fang, Shuai Liu, Jianyu Zhou, Sheng Wang, Yu Wang, Shouhu Xuan, and Xinglong Gong, "Smart touchless triboelectric nanogenerator towards safeguard and 3D morphological awareness," Nano Energy, Vol. 86, 106071, 2021.
doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2021.106071

13. Xu, Liang, Hao Wu, Guo Yao, Libo Chen, Xiaodan Yang, Baodong Chen, Xin Huang, Wei Zhong, Xiangyu Chen, Zhouping Yin, and Zhong Lin Wang, "Giant voltage enhancement via triboelectric charge supplement channel for self-powered electroadhesion," ACS Nano, Vol. 12, No. 10, 10262-10271, 2018.

14. Xu, Yuhong, Weixiong Yang, Xiaohui Lu, Yanfei Yang, Jianping Li, Jianming Wen, Tinghai Cheng, and Zhong Lin Wang, "Triboelectric nanogenerator for ocean wave graded energy harvesting and condition monitoring," ACS Nano, Vol. 15, No. 10, 16368-16375, 2021.
doi:10.1021/acsnano.1c05685

15. Jiang, Tao, Hao Pang, Jie An, Pinjing Lu, Yawei Feng, Xi Liang, Wei Zhong, and Zhong Lin Wang, "Robust swing-structured triboelectric nanogenerator for efficient blue energy harvesting," Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 10, No. 23, 2000064, 2020.
doi:10.1002/aenm.202000064

16. Zhang, Chuguo, Linglin Zhou, Ping Cheng, Di Liu, Chunlei Zhang, Xinyuan Li, Shaoxin Li, Jie Wang, and Zhong Lin Wang, "Bifilar-pendulum-assisted multilayer-structured triboelectric nanogenerators for wave energy harvesting," Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 11, No. 12, 2003616, 2021.

17. Xu, Lingyi, Liang Xu, Jianjun Luo, Ying Yan, Bei-Er Jia, Xiaodan Yang, Yihua Gao, and Zhong Lin Wang, "Hybrid all-in-one power source based on high-performance spherical triboelectric nanogenerators for harvesting environmental energy," Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 10, No. 36, 2001669, 2020.

18. Lin, Zhiming, B. Zhang, Y. Xie, Z. Wu, J. Yang, and Z. L. Wang, "Elastic‐connection and soft‐contact triboelectric nanogenerator with superior durability and efficiency," Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 31, No. 40, 103908, 2021.
doi:10.1002/adfm.202105237

19. Chen, Aihua, Chen Zhang, Guang Zhu, and Zhong Lin Wang, "Polymer materials for high‐performance triboelectric Nanogenerators," Advanced Science, Vol. 7, No. 14, 2000186, 2020.
doi:10.1002/advs.202000186

20. Dawson, Noel M., Phillip M. Atencio, and Kevin J. Malloy, "Facile deposition of high quality ferroelectric poly (vinylidene fluoride) thin films by thermally modulated spin coating," Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, Vol. 55, No. 3, 221-227, 2017.
doi:10.1002/polb.24273

21. Wang, Shengqian, Wangshu Tong, Yanan Li, Panpan Zhang, Yulun Liu, Yiyuan Chen, and Yihe Zhang, "Contributions of piezoelectricity and triboelectricity to a hydroxyapatite/PVDF–HFP fiber-film nanogenerator," Nano Energy, Vol. 105, 108026, 2023.
doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2022.108026

22. Ding, Mengru, Jianlong Wang, Da Zhao, Hengyu Li, Xiaojun Cheng, Jianming Wen, Zhong Lin Wang, and Tinghai Cheng, "Magnetic-field-assisted triboelectric nanogenerator for harvesting multi-directional wave energy," Nano Research, Vol. 17, No. 8, 7144-7152, 2024.
doi:10.1007/s12274-024-6680-8

23. Wen, Honggui, Peiyuan Yang, Guanlin Liu, Shuxing Xu, Huilu Yao, Wangtao Li, Hang Qu, Jiajun Ding, Jiayu Li, and Lingyu Wan, "Flower-like triboelectric nanogenerator for blue energy harvesting with six degrees of freedom," Nano Energy, Vol. 93, 106796, 2022.
doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2021.106796

24. Feng, Yawei, Jiajia Han, Mengjiao Xu, Xi Liang, Tao Jiang, Hexing Li, and Zhong Lin Wang, "Blue energy for green hydrogen fuel: A self-powered electrochemical conversion system driven by triboelectric nanogenerators," Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2103143, 2022.
doi:10.1002/aenm.202103143

25. Zhang, Chuguo, Lixia He, Linglin Zhou, Ou Yang, Wei Yuan, Xuelian Wei, Yuebo Liu, Liang Lu, Jie Wang, and Zhong Lin Wang, "Active resonance triboelectric nanogenerator for harvesting omnidirectional water-wave energy," Joule, Vol. 5, No. 6, 1613-1623, 2021.
doi:10.1016/j.joule.2021.04.016

26. Yuan, Wei, Baofeng Zhang, Chuguo Zhang, Ou Yang, Yuebo Liu, Lixia He, Linglin Zhou, Zhihao Zhao, Jie Wang, and Zhong Lin Wang, "Anaconda-shaped spiral multi-layered triboelectric nanogenerators with ultra-high space efficiency for wave energy harvesting," One Earth, Vol. 5, No. 9, 1055-1063, 2022.
doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2022.08.013

27. Pang, Hao, Yawei Feng, Jie An, Pengfei Chen, Jiajia Han, Tao Jiang, and Zhong Lin Wang, "Segmented swing-structured fur-based triboelectric nanogenerator for harvesting blue energy toward marine environmental applications," Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 31, No. 47, 2106398, 2021.

28. Sun, Yanggui, Fangyan Zheng, Xuelian Wei, Yapeng Shi, Ruonan Li, Baocheng Wang, Longfei Wang, Zhiyi Wu, and Zhong Lin Wang, "Pendular-translational hybrid nanogenerator harvesting water wave energy," ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 14, No. 13, 15187-15194, 2022.
doi:10.1021/acsami.1c25004

29. Xu, Minyi, Tiancong Zhao, Chuan Wang, Steven L. Zhang, Zhou Li, Xinxiang Pan, and Zhong Lin Wang, "High power density tower-like triboelectric nanogenerator for harvesting arbitrary directional water wave energy," ACS Nano, Vol. 13, No. 2, 1932-1939, 2019.
doi:10.1021/acsnano.8b08274

30. Xiao, Tian Xiao, Xi Liang, Tao Jiang, Liang Xu, Jia Jia Shao, Jin Hui Nie, Yu Bai, Wei Zhong, and Zhong Lin Wang, "Spherical triboelectric nanogenerators based on spring-assisted multilayered structure for efficient water wave energy harvesting," Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 28, No. 35, 1802634, 2018.
doi:10.1002/adfm.201802634

31. Chen, Yun, Yicheng Kuang, Dachuang Shi, Maoxiang Hou, Xin Chen, Lelun Jiang, Jian Gao, Lanyu Zhang, Yunbo He, and Ching-Ping Wong, "A triboelectric nanogenerator design for harvesting environmental mechanical energy from water mist," Nano Energy, Vol. 73, 104765, 2020.
doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.104765

32. Jiang, Wen, Hu Li, Zhuo Liu, Zhe Li, Jingjing Tian, Bojing Shi, Yang Zou, Han Ouyang, Chaochao Zhao, Luming Zhao, et al. "Fully bioabsorbable natural-materials-based triboelectric nanogenerators," Advanced Materials, Vol. 30, No. 32, 1801895, 2018.

33. Moon, Seong-Yeon, Arooba Shafique, Seneke Chamith Chandrarathna, and Jong-Wook Lee, "A high-voltage PMIC using an efficient perturb and observe technique for energy harvesting of triboelectric nanogenerators," IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 40, No. 2, 3225-3239, 2025.
doi:10.1109/tpel.2024.3484455

Dr. Yuxuan Tong

Dr. Xin Zhou

Mr. Xiaobing Niu

Dr. Xinhua Ye