Gas-solid two-phase flow-driven triboelectric nanogenerator for wind-sand energy harvesting and self-powered monitoring sensor. (July 2021) - Xu, Shiwei
Abstract: A new type of gas-solid two-phase flow-based triboelectric nanogenerator (WS-TENG) is fabricated for collecting triboelectric energy in wind-blown sand environment, producing direct current output, and harvesting kinetic energy of continuous wind-blown sand flow. A single-electrode mode WS-TENG is designed with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) as friction layer and used to investigate triboelectrification between wind-blown sand flow and friction layer surface using sediment-air injection method. Results showed that both short-circuit current ( I sc ) and output voltage ( V o ) are direct current modes that increase with increasing impact angle and sand feed rate and reach 2 µA and 55 V, respectively, at a flow velocity of 18 m·s −1 to charge capacitor and light up five LEDs as a wind-blown sand flow kinetic energy collector. Moreover, output performance of WS-TENG can be improved further by pre-charging the floating sand using a PTFE pipe due to coupling of electrostatic induction and triboelectrification effect. WS-TENG was also applied as a self-powered sensor for aeolian sand transport rate in harsh sandstorm environment, thereby indicating its potential application for tracking the evolution of aeolian desertification and developing practical sensing applications of gas-solid two-phase flow-based TENG. Graphical Abstract: ga1 Highlights: A novel wind-blown sand flow-based triboelectric nanogenerator (WS-TENG) has been proposed and developed. The WS-TENG can efficiently harvest the kinetic energy of wind-blown sand flow in a sandstorm environment. A self-powered active sand transport rate sensor based on precharged WS-TENG has been developed. The gas-solid two-phase flow as frictional media has been introduced into the TENG filed.