Bifilar-Pendulum-Assisted Multilayer-Structured Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Wave Energy Harvesting

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have been introduced as a new cost-effective technology for harvesting renewable wave energy for their unmatchable performance in low frequency (<5 Hz). Here, bifilar-pendulum-assisted multilayer-structured triboelectric nanogenerator (BM-TENG) modules incorporated into a vessel for wave energy harvesting are reported, which have a high output performance and adaptive capacity in actual marine environment. Compared with previous research work on wave energy collection by TENG, the designed BM-TENG, which is optimized by the structure and material, presents a milestone power density of 200 W m(-3) and this performance is an improvement of 1-2 orders of magnitude. More importantly, by using a vessel as a platform, TENG can be integrated into it to eliminate the impact of the marine environment and enable convenient maintenance, easy connection, and long-term stable operation of TENG. The findings provide not only a new design methodology for TENG but also a feasible method to harvest renewable energy efficiently.