Triboelectric Nanogenerators Using Recycled Disposable Medical Masks for Water Wave Energy Harvesting

Abstract In the current daily life of people, the usage for disposable medical masks (DMMs) continues to be high. Discarded DMMs eventually become plastic pollution, threatening the marine environment seriously. At present, the common plastic recycling methods are extensive and not completely applicable for DMM recycling. In this work, according to the special structural and material characteristics of DMMs, a simple and effective recycling solution is proposed based on triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). First, a pulsed electric field system is designed and fabricated to treat the recycled films. The sterilizing rate reaches 91.8%, and the film surface potential is enhanced at the same time. Then, the feasibility of the treated films to be applied as the friction layers of TENGs is verified. Moreover, the recycled films are upgraded by chemical and physical methods, improving the output current of the basic TENG by 3.28 times. Finally, a complete TENG device is constructed to harvest water wave energy, 93.75% of which is made from recycled DMM materials. Under water waves, the power density of 18.22 W m⁻³ is achieved. Starting from TENG technology, this study combines circular economy and clean energy development, which is of significance for carbon neutralization.