Triboelectrification-Enabled Self-Charging Lithium-Ion Batteries

Li-ion batteries as energy storage devices need to be periodically charged for sustainably powering electronic devices owing to their limited capacities. Here, the feasibility of utilizing Li-ion batteries as both the energy storage and scavenging units is demonstrated. Flexible Li-ion batteries fabricated from electrospun LiMn2O4 nanowires as cathode and carbon nanowires as anode enable a capacity retention of 90% coulombic efficiency after 50 cycles. Through the coupling between triboelectrification and electrostatic induction, the adjacent electrodes of two Li-ion batteries can deliver an output peak voltage of about 200 V and an output peak current of about 25 mu A under ambient wind-induced vibrations of a hexafluoropropene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer film between the two Li-ion batteries. The self-charging Li-ion batteries have been demonstrated to charge themselves up to 3.5 V in about 3 min under wind-induced mechanical excitations. The advantages of the self-charging Li-ion batteries can provide important applications for sustainably powering electronics and self-powered sensor systems.