Triboelectric Generator Based on Oriented Self-Assembled Peptide Microbelts

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Biomedical Engineering
• Energy Harvesting

Background:

• Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are efficient, low-cost energy harvesters from mechanical vibrations.
• Biocompatible materials are crucial for TENGs in biomedical applications.
• Diphenylalanine (FF) microstructures offer unique properties and diverse morphologies for TENG development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a contact-separate mode TENG using oriented diphenylalanine (FF) microbelts.
• To investigate the effect of temperature treatments on TENG performance.
• To compare the performance of FF-based TENGs with FF-based piezoelectric nanogenerators.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of TENGs using arrays of oriented FF microbelts via dip-coating.
• Performance testing of TENGs under various temperature treatments.
• Analysis of the influence of bound and mobile water on TENG output.

Main Results:

• The developed FF microbelt TENGs demonstrated superior performance (short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, output power) compared to FF piezoelectric nanogenerators.
• Bound water in FF nanochannels primarily impacts open-circuit voltage (V_OC).
• Mobile water significantly increases short-circuit current (I_SC).
• Molecular cyclization of FF enhanced TENG performance, likely due to increased surface energy and flattening.

Conclusions:

• Diphenylalanine microbelts are effective materials for fabricating high-performance, biocompatible TENGs.
• Temperature and water content critically influence TENG performance.
• FF-based TENGs show significant potential for biomedical energy harvesting applications.