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Enhanced Triboelectric Nanogenerator Performance via an Optimised Low Permittivity, Low Thickness Substrate

Min, Guanbo; Manjakkal, Libu; Mulvihill, Daniel M.; Dahiya, Ravinder S.

Authors

Guanbo Min

Daniel M. Mulvihill

Ravinder S. Dahiya



Abstract

With electrical power generated from mechanical contact, the triboelectric nanogenerators (TEN Gs) have attracted attention recently as a promising route to realising self-powered sensors (e.g. tactile sensors, biomedical sensors etc.). Due to their limited power range (0.1-100 mW/cm 2 ), it is important to optimise the output performance of TENGs. Among the factors that confer higher performance are materials with a strong triboelectric effect and materials with low permittivity. It can be difficult to realize these two benefits in a single contact material. This paper presents a solution to this challenge by optimising a low permittivity substrate beneath the tribo-contact layer. Results are simulated over a range of both substrate permittivity and thickness. The open circuit voltage is found to increase by a factor of 1.8 in moving from PVDF to the lower permittivity PTFE and by a further factor of 37.2 when the substrate thickness is reduced from 200 to 1 μ1 μm . For PTFE with 1 μ1 μm thickness, this amounts to 12.2 kV, as against 327V known from simulations up to now. These results clearly indicate that optimized low permittivity, low thickness substrates represent a potential route to self-powered sensors.

Citation

Min, G., Manjakkal, L., Mulvihill, D. M., & Dahiya, R. S. (2018). Enhanced Triboelectric Nanogenerator Performance via an Optimised Low Permittivity, Low Thickness Substrate. . https://doi.org/10.1109/icsens.2018.8589631

Conference Name 2018 IEEE Sensors
Conference Location New Delhi
Start Date Oct 28, 2018
End Date Oct 31, 2018
Acceptance Date Dec 27, 2018
Online Publication Date Dec 27, 2018
Publication Date 2018-10
Deposit Date Jul 29, 2022
Publisher Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
DOI https://doi.org/10.1109/icsens.2018.8589631
Keywords Triboelectric nanogenerator, Self-powered Sensors, Permittivity, Dielectric
Public URL http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2893200