Nanoarchitectonics of Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Conversion of Abundant Mechanical Energy to Green Hydrogen

In the present world, the high energy demand rapidly depletes existing fossil fuel reserves, urging the necessity to harvest energy from clean and renewable resources. In this study, the use of a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is shown beyond the conventional practice of use in self-powered electronics, to the production of green hydrogen from renewable mechanical energy. For the first time the use of a magnetic covalent organic framework composite as positive triboelectric material for a contact-separation mode TENG (CS-TENG) in which MXene incorporated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film serves as negative triboelectric material, is demonstrated. A facile way of incorporating micropatterns on the surface of PDMS/MXene film is shown utilizing the advantages of 3D printing technology. The CS-TENG harvests energy from simple mechanical actions such as human handclapping and toe-tapping. The energy from such low-scale mechanical actions is applied for water electrolysis. Scanning electrochemical microscopy is employed to confirm the evolution of hydrogen and oxygen by the harvested electrical energy from mechanical actions. This research is expected to pave the way for producing green hydrogen anywhere, by utilizing the mechanical energy from nature such as raindrops, wind, and the movement of vehicles.