A self-powered system based on triboelectric nanogenerators and supercapacitors for metal corrosion prevention

As water covers most of the earth's surface, the energy of the ocean is abundant and almost unexplored, which can be one of the most environmentally friendly forms of energy. Prevention of metal corrosion plays an important role in national economic development and daily life. Here, we report a network of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) and supercapacitors (SCs), which is also called the self-powered system, to harvest a huge amount of water energy for preventing metal corrosion. When the TENG is integrated with a SC, the output current is stable and continuous. The corrosion results indicate that the TENG-SC self-powered system can prevent about 80% degree of corrosion for Q235 steel in 0.5 M NaCl solution. This work demonstrates that the TENG-SC system, which is self-powered, flexible and environmentally friendly, can harvest and store large-scale blue energy from the ocean, and also renders an innovative approach toward preventing the metal corrosion without other power sources.