Micro-Fabrication Methods and Experimentation of Liquid-Solid Triboelectric Nanogenerators

This study is an exploration of the liquid-solid electrication phenomena in tribo-

electric nanogenerator devices, its fabrication and assembly, as well as notable results

and analysis on all aspects of the nanogenerator device. Energy harvesting in water-

based environments is ideal because the harvester can be shown to generate sucient

energy provided it is scaled for the application. As a renewable energy source, it is

desirable to incorporate for remote ocean-based sensors that demand on-site energy.

These devices are currently technically dicult to produce and require specialized

clean room and chemical altering equipment. Due to the complex nature of the cur-

rent fabrication method, this work also explores an alternate method for fabrication of

the triboelectric layers for use in water-based environments. Polymer nanowire mod-

ications to increase the contact area with liquid are shown to moderately improve

the overall performance using specic chemical gases during the etching process. Cir-

cuitry for optimizing these devices in building up and storing energy to power several

LEDs has merit, but failed in testing after successive attempts. With continued re-

search and design improvement, triboelectric nanogenerator energy harvesters could

prove useful in a wide variety of sensor applications.