Design and optimization of rotating triboelectric nanogenerator by water electrification and inertia

The recent energy crisis has resulted in numerous energy-harvesting methods receiving significant attention in the past decades. To overcome this crisis, we successfully develop a first-ever rotating water triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) based on water-electrification and rotating fluid inertia. The proposed TENG is a fully packaged design composed of partially filled cylinder and gear systems. To the best of our knowledge, the correlation of inner fluid motion and electrical voltage output performance using fluid dynamics analysis is demonstrated for the first time. In addition, we propose guidelines for optimum design and operation of a TENG using a non-dimensional factor G, which is based on the angular velocity of the cylinder and the volume ratio of the water and cylinder. In addition, a multiphase fluid flow simulation is introduced to demonstrate fluid dynamic motion and the electrical potential based on instantaneous water motion. Furthermore, a portable hand-driven device combined with a gear train that can light 30 LEDs instantaneously is introduced to demonstrate the wide applicability of the proposed TENG. Thus, our study supports a simple model where a rotating cylinder is filled with water and can be used effectively to expand new types of energy-harvesting methods. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.