Enhanced Durability and Robustness of Triboelectric Nanogenerators with Blade-Enclosed Structure for Breeze Energy Harvesting

In smart agriculture, lots of sensors are widely distributed in farmland with a complex environment. The methods of powering these sensors have attracted extensive attention, of which harvesting the breeze energy abundant in farmland is a good way. Herein, the triboelectric nanogenerator with blade-enclosed structure (BE-TENG) is proposed to enhance the durability and robustness. The device achieves a low start-up wind speed of 1.5 m/s due to the structure based on the horizontal axis wind wheel and can output an open-circuit voltage of 360 V. Importantly, after 10 hours of continuous operation, the voltage signal of the BE-TENG has almost no attenuation, and its output performance can maintain stability even in a high humidity environment of 90%, showing strong durability and robustness. Experiments show that under breeze conditions, the BE-TENG can drive almost 600 light-emitting diodes and successfully power a soil temperature sensor. In addition, it can drive a hygrothermograph in a simulated rainfall environment, realizing the monitoring of ambient temperature and humidity. This work can convert breeze energy in farmland into electricity needed for agricultural sensors, which provides a new strategy for distributed energy supply required for smart agriculture.