Tannic Acid Modified Epoxidized Natural Rubber Based High Performing Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Energy Harvesting
• Green Technology

Background:

• Growing environmental concerns drive demand for sustainable energy solutions.
• Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) offer promising green energy harvesting, but rely on non-renewable materials.
• Developing high-performance bio-based TENG materials is crucial for sustainable technology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create a high-performance, bio-based composite for TENG applications.
• To utilize tannic acid (TA) as a reactive bio-filler in epoxidized natural rubber (ENR-50).
• To investigate the potential of this bio-composite as a tribo-positive material for efficient energy harvesting.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a bio-composite using tannic acid (TA) and epoxidized natural rubber (ENR-50).
• Testing the bio-composite as a tribo-positive material in a TENG device.
• Characterization of electrical output (voltage, power density) and material properties.
• Utilizing Density Functional Theory (DFT) to analyze the contact electrification mechanism.

Main Results:

• The TA-ENR-50 bio-composite achieved high output voltages (751 V at 9 Hz).
• Maximum power density reached 37 W m⁻² at 9 Hz and 1 MΩ load resistance.
• Average power density was 20 W m⁻² across 10-100 MΩ load resistance.
• Performance was attributed to the high electron-donating ability of tannic acid.

Conclusions:

• The developed TA-ENR-50 bio-composite demonstrates excellent performance for TENG applications.
• This bio-composite offers significantly higher power density than previously reported bio-composites.
• The material shows promise for next-generation sustainable power harvesting technologies.