Facile and low-cost synthesis of flexible nano-generators based on polymeric and porous aerogel materials

Triboelectric nano-generators (TE-NGs) can be utilized as a power supply for wireless systems, sensors, and operators. In this paper, new flexible TE-NGs that use sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), poly dimethyl siloxane (PDMS), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), poly (4,4'-oxydiphenylene-pyromellitimide) (KAPTON) films and also sugar as a piezoelectric material were developed and are reported. Also, the outputs of NGs made by linear power under a periodic pressure of - 0.2 MPa at a frequency of 3 Hz showed that the highest output of NGs are related to PDMS-KATTON, PDMS, PVDF-KAPTON, PVDF, CMC NGs, respectively. It has been also observed that NGs connected in series to each other have a higher output than paralleled NGs so that their voltages increase at higher frequencies. Besides, a significant point is that the NGs are made in a low-cost, affordable, and environmentally-friendly route, which is a superior characteristic with respect to the rest of the NGs.