Nano Groove and Prism-Structured Triboelectric Nanogenerators
Resul Saritas1, Majed Al-Ghamdi2, Taylan Memik Das3,4
1Department of Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.
Micromachines
|September 28, 2023
Summary
Researchers developed a new fabrication method to create nano-features on surfaces for triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). This significantly boosts TENGs
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Energy Harvesting
Background:
- Enhancing triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) output power necessitates micro/nano-structuring of polymer surfaces to increase contact area.
- Existing methods for creating such features can be complex and time-consuming.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a novel, bench-top dynamic Scanning Probe Lithography (d-SPL) method for fabricating nano-features on polymer surfaces.
- To investigate the impact of simultaneously created nano-grooves (NGs) and nano-triangular prisms (NTPs) on TENG output power.
Main Methods:
- Dynamic Scanning Probe Lithography (d-SPL) was employed to create uniform 1 cm long, 2.5 µm wide NGs (600 nm deep) and NTPs (600 nm high) simultaneously.
- A patterned PMMA substrate with 6000 pairs of NGs and NTPs served as a mold for a 200 µm thick Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer.
- The nano-structured PDMS layer was integrated into a TENG device for power output measurement.
Main Results:
- The nano-structured TENG demonstrated a significantly higher output power of 12.2 mW compared to 2.2 mW for a TENG with flat PDMS films.
- The d-SPL method successfully created dense arrays of uniform nano-features, effectively doubling the structured surface area.
Conclusions:
- The d-SPL method offers an efficient approach for fabricating advanced nano-structured surfaces for enhanced TENG performance.
- Simultaneous fabrication of complementary nano-features (grooves and prisms) is a viable strategy for boosting TENG output power.
