
PhD candidate Mohammad Khorsand and Professor Youhong Tang with the TENG prototype at Flinders University, Tonsley Innovation District.
Imagine a mobile phone charger that doesn’t need a wireless or mains power source. Or a pacemaker with inbuilt organic energy sources within the human body.
Australian researchers led by Flinders University are picking up the challenge of ‘scavenging’ invisible power from low-frequency vibrations in the surrounding environment, including wind, air or even contact-separation energy (static electricity).
“These so-called triboelectric nanogenerators (or ‘TENGs’) can be made at low cost in different configurations, making them suitable for driving small electronics such as personal electronics (mobile phones), biomechanics devices (pacemakers), sensors (temperature/pressure/chemical sensors), and more,” says Professor Youhong Tang, from Flinders University’s College of Science and Engineering.
Further research aims to further develop this renewable form of energy harvesting by designing simple fabrication from cheap and sustainable materials, with high efficiency.
“They can use non-invasive materials, so could one day be used for implantable and wearable energy harvesting aims,” says Flinders Institute for NanoScale Science and Technology PhD candidate Mohammad Khorsand, co-lead author on recent papers in international journal Nano Energy.
The latest paper uses AI-enhanced mathematical modelling to compare the function of the number of segments, rotational speed and tribo-surface spacing of an advanced TENG prototype to optimise the storage and performance.
The researchers, with colleagues at the University of Technology Sydney and elsewhere, are working to improve power generation of TENGs and store the generated power on supercapacitor or battery.
“We have been able to effectively harvest power from sliding movement and rotary motion which are abundantly available in our living environment,” says Professor Tang.
The latest paper, Artificial intelligence enhanced mathematical modeling on rotary triboelectric nanogenerators under various kinematic and geometric conditions (2020) by Mohammad Khorsand, Javad Tavakoli (University of Technology Sydney), Haowen Guan and Youhong Tang has been published in Nano Energy (Elsevier) DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.104993
Also see 2019 paper Simulation of high-output and lightweight sliding-mode triboelectric nanogenerators DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.104115
Key points:
- The first generation of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) was fabricated at Georgia Institute of Technology in the US about 10 years ago.
- Research at Flinders University is aiming design cost effective and high-efficient sliding and rotary TENGs for further development and possible commercialisation.
- This research on the next generation of TENG is using AI and simulation modelling to reduce the cost of repeating the experiment for various conditions.
- The research team is focusing on numerically predicting the outputs of TENGs by measuring their voltage, current, power and energy under various electric specifications and geometries of dielectric films.
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Triboelectric nanogenerators
- energy harvesting
Now, researchers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville have determined that double-sided Scotch tape can improve triboelectric power generators. Triboelectric generation, of course ...
- Paper Keyboard Is Self-Powered
Special inks print triboelectric circuits so that pressing your finger on a particular part of the paper generates electricity. We were skeptical that the Bluetooth part is self-powered ...
- Static Electricity to Charge Devices
Researchers have uncovered a secret about how static electricity works that could lead to new ways to use this phenomenon to power smartphones and other electronic devices. A team in the Department of ...
- High efficiency, salt resistance and high strength desalination achieved with new hydrogel solar evaporator
Breakage-resistant conductive hydrogel extends service life of triboelectric nanogenerators Dec 7, 2022 Hydrogels containing a hygroscopic salt can harvest freshwater from dry air ...
- Fabric Harvests Solar, Motion Energy to Power Wearables, Textiles
Using a commercial textile machine, researchers weaved together solar cells constructed from lightweight polymer fibers with fiber-based triboelectric nanogenerators. These type of nanogenerators use ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Triboelectric nanogenerators
[google_news title=”” keyword=”triboelectric nanogenerators” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Energy harvesting
- Clean Energy 24/7: Engineers Use Nanotechnology To Harvest Electricity “From Thin Air”
Engineers describe the “generic Air-gen effect”—nearly any material can be engineered with nanopores to harvest, cost-effective, scalable, interruption-free electricity. Researchers at the University ...
- energy harvesting
Triboelectric generation, of course, is nothing new. These energy harvesters take mechanical and thermal energy and turn them into tiny amounts of electricity. What’s new here is that PET ...
- Solar Energy-Harvesting Concrete Makes For Sustainable Buildings
We've told you how it's become possible for buildings to harvest solar energy through a coating on the glass of their windowpanes. Now scientists are developing new types of concrete for constructing ...
- Flexible Solar Cell Can Be Woven Into Energy-Harvesting Fabric
Many scientists have been working battery-free ways to power wearable electronics that can replace bulky battery packs, particularly through the use of energy-harvesting materials. Now a team of ...
- Energy Harvesting Peltier Ring
This is his Energy Harvesting Peltier Ring. The effect he is harnessing is called the SeeBeck Effect — the process of generating electricity through temperature differentials. He has shown how ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Energy harvesting
[google_news title=”” keyword=”energy harvesting” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]