An Ultra-Durable Windmill-Like Hybrid Nanogenerator for Steady and Efficient Harvesting of Low-Speed Wind Energy
Ying Zhang, Qixuan Zeng, Yan Wu, Jun Wu, Songlei Yuan, Dujuan Tan, Chenguo Hu, Wang Xue
Abstract
Abstract Wind energy is one of the most promising and renewable energy sources; however, owing to the limitations of device structures, collecting low-speed wind energy by triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) is still a huge challenge. To solve this problem, an ultra-durable and highly efficient windmill-like hybrid nanogenerator (W-HNG) is developed. Herein, the W-HNG composes coupled TENG and electromagnetic generator (EMG) and adopts a rotational contact-separation mode. This unique design efficiently avoids the wear of friction materials and ensures a prolonged service life. Moreover, the generator group is separated from the wind-driven part, which successfully prevents rotation resistance induced by the friction between rotor and stator in the conventional structures, and realizes low-speed wind energy harvesting. Additionally, the output characteristics of TENG can be complementary to the different performance advantages of EMG to achieve a satisfactory power production. The device is successfully driven when the wind speed is 1.8 m s −1 , and the output power of TENG and EMG can achieve 0.95 and 3.7 mW, respectively. After power management, the W-HNG has been successfully applied as a power source for electronic devices. This work provides a simple, reliable, and durable device for improved performance toward large-scale low-speed breeze energy harvesting.