Boosting Free-Rotating Disk Triboelectric Nanogenerator through Alcohol-Soluble Nylon Film, Preventing Air Breakdown

In recent years, a free-rotating disk triboelectric nanogenerator (rTENG) has attracted considerable attention as a promising energy harvester due to its high output energy among many triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) types. However, the high output of the rTENG is often challenged by air breakdown between the electrodes. To overcome this issue, in this present work, we have developed a triboelectric nanogenerator based on alcohol-soluble nylon technology (AN-rTENG). Compared to the conventional nylon-based triboelectric nanogenerator (CN-rTENG), the AN-rTENG significantly suppresses air breakdown and improves the energy output due to the increased capacity to accommodate charges on the two electrode plates (by changing the filler between the two electrodes). Under identical experimental conditions, the AN-rTENG demonstrates substantial performance enhancements over the CN-rTENG. These include a 25% increase in the AN-rTENG’s short-circuit current and a 45.5% increase in its open-circuit voltage. Additionally, the influence of various factors on the performance of the AN-rTENG has been discussed, including the ethanol concentration, the mass fraction of PA66 in the alcohol-soluble nylon solution, the thickness of the alcohol-soluble nylon (ASN) film, and the distance between the stator and rotor. With optimized design, the ASN film thickness is 60 μm, the stator-rotor distance is 2 mm, and the rotor speed is 4 Hz. the AN-rTENG exhibits a short-circuit current amplitude of 247 μA, an open-circuit peak voltage amplitude of 27 kV, a transferred charge of 3.6 μC, and a peak power density of 18.9 W/m 2 . The AN-rTENG provides a pathway for promoting the rTENG with its advantages of easy fabrication, high electrical power, and low cost.