Dual Mode TENG with Self-Voltage Multiplying Circuit for Blue Energy Harvesting and Water Wave Monitoring

As the most extensive natural energy on earth, ocean wave energy is regarded as a difficult energy to be fully and efficiently utilized because of its low frequency and multi-direction movement. Herein, a versatile blue energy triboelectric nanogenerator (VBE-TENG) fabricated by using dual-mode output terminals with charge excitation strategy is reported, which can harvest varying water-wave energy effectively. Benefiting from the rolling ball on a specific track and the compression rebound characteristics of a spring sheet steel, the carrier can be driven along a specific path through random ocean wave energy, and then the energy is converted into electricity by VBE-TENG. A high peak output power of 34.3 mW is obtained, 2.5 times as much as that of current highest record based on a device unit in blue energy TENG. In addition, the TENG can light 256 LEDs and continuously power commercial electronic devices in wave environments. The average peak voltage of contact-separation TENG is converted into virtual signal via Labview software to provide wave height monitoring as a self-powered sensing system. This work provides a new approach in blue energy TENG toward practical applications.