An Ultra‑Durable Windmill‑Like Hybrid Nanogenerator for Steady and Efficient Harvesting of Low‑Speed Wind Energy

Wind energy is one of the most promising and renewable energy sources;however,owing to the limitations of device structures,collecting low-speed wind energy by triboelectric nanogenerators(TENGs)is still a huge challenge.To solve this problem,an ultra-durable and highly efficient windmill-like hybrid nanogenerator(W-HNG)is developed.Herein,the W-HNG composes coupled TENG and electromagnetic generator(EMG)and adopts a rotational contact-separation mode.This unique design efficiently avoids the wear of friction materials and ensures a prolonged service life.Moreover,the generator group is separated from the wind-driven part,which successfully prevents rotation resistance induced by the friction between rotor and stator in the conventional structures,and realizes low-speed wind energy harvesting.Additionally,the output characteristics of TENG can be complementary to the different performance advantages of EMG to achieve a satisfactory power production.The device is successfully driven when the wind speed is 1.8 m s−1,and the output power of TENG and EMG can achieve 0.95 and 3.7 mW,respectively.After power management,the W-HNG has been successfully applied as a power source for electronic devices.This work provides a simple,reliable,and durable device for improved performance toward large-scale low-speed breeze energy harvesting.

Anti-Overturning Fully Symmetrical Triboelectric Nanogenerator Based on an Elliptic Cylindrical Structure for All-Weather Blue Energy Harvesting

Triboelectric nanogenerators(TENGs) have shown promising potential for large-scale blue energy harvesting. However, the lack of reasonable designs has largely hindered TENG from harvesting energy from both rough and tranquil seas. Herein, a fully symmetrical triboelectric nanogenerator based on an elliptical cylindrical structure(EC-TENG) is proposed for all-weather blue energy harvesting. The novel elliptical cylindrical shell provides a unique selfstability, high sensitivity to wave triggering, and most importantly, an anti-overturning capability for the EC-TENG. Moreover, benefiting from its internal symmetrical design, the EC-TENG can produce energy normally, even if it was overturned under a rude oscillation in the rough seas, which distinguishes this work from previous reported TENGs. The working mechanism and output performance are systematically studied. The as-fabricated EC-TENG is capable of lighting 400 light-emitting diodes and driving small electronics. More than that, an automatic monitoring system powered by the EC-TENG can also monitor the water level in real-time and provide an alarm if necessary. This work presents an innovative and reliable approach toward all-weather wave energy harvesting in actual marine environments.