Hybrid Energy-Harvesting System by a Coupling of Triboelectric and Thermoelectric Generator

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is considered as one of the critical parts for the construction of Internet of Things (IoTs) by harvesting distributed energy. However, its high alternating current voltage output characteristic is not suitable for directly driving electronics and the undesirable heat generated during friction will cause friction of dielectric layer and energy loss. Herein, an energy-harvesting device is designed, which includes an adaptive rotating triboelectric nanogenerator (AR-TENG) coupling of a thermoelectric generator (ThEG) and a matching transformers circuit. The AR-TENG is beneficial to reduce the friction by dielectric layer's inherent elasticity and the ThEG can reuse the inevitable heat with Seebeck effect. Besides, the maximal output conversion efficiency of the designed transformers circuit for AR-TENG is enhanced up to 96.4%. Therefore, the energy storage velocity of the whole device charging supercapacitor is improved almost by 28 times than that of alone AR-TENG. This finding not only provides a strategy to improve the energy-harvesting efficiency of TENG, but also offers a wide application for TENG in IoTs.

Automated summary

In this study, an energy harvesting device was designed to improve the energy harvesting efficiency by coupling an adaptive rotating triboelectric nanogenerator (AR-TENG) with a thermoelectric generator (ThEG). The results showed that the energy storage velocity of the whole device charging supercapacitor was improved by almost 28 times.