Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Harvesting Vibration Energy in Full Space and as Self- Powered Acceleration Sensor

A spherical three-dimensional triboelectric nanogenerator (3D-TENG) with a single electrode is designed, consisting of an outer transparent shell and an inner polyfluoroalkoxy (PFA) ball. Based on the coupling of triboelectric effect and electrostatic effect, the rationally developed 3D-TENG can effectively scavenge ambient vibration energy in full space by working at a hybridization of both the contact-separation mode and the sliding mode, resulting in the electron transfer between the Al electrode and the ground. By systematically investigating the output performance of the device vibrating under different frequencies and along different directions, the TENG can deliver a maximal output voltage of 57 V, a maximal output current of 2.3 A, and a corresponding output power of 128 W on a load of 100 M, which can be used to directly drive tens of green light-emitting diodes. Moreover, the TENG is utilized to design the self-powered acceleration sensor with detection sensitivity of 15.56 V g(-1). This work opens up many potential applications of single-electrode based TENGs for ambient vibration energy harvesting techniques in full space and the self-powered vibration sensor systems.