Preparation of BT@PS composite nanofibers via recycling waste polystyrene foams for triboelectric nanogenerator

With the increasing use of one-off plastic product, the plastic pollution has induced immeasurable harm to the human living environment and ecological system. It is a good idea to make use of recycled plastic products for energy conversion and harvesting devices, which could rationally relieve the world from environmental pollution of plastic wastes. Here, an BaTiO₃ (BT) nanoparticles filled nanocomposite fiber membrane made from waste polystyrene (PS) foams was fabricated and served as triboelectric layer of TENG. The contact-separation mode TENG were fabricated by employing the PS@BT composite nanofiber membrane and Al film as the friction electrodes. The output performances were investigated by adjusting the concentration of BT nanoparticles in composite nanofibers. When the BT content was 33.3 wt% in composite nanofibers, the TENG presented an optimizing output capability, the open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current and power density reach 760 V, 19 µA, and 0.75 W/m² respectively. Furthermore, a wind energy harvester based on TENG was constructed by employing optimized PS@BT composite nanofiber membrane as triboelectric layer, which can effectively convert environmental wind into electrical energy, by which about 60 commercial light emitting diodes can be concurrently lighted. This study not only improves the reutilization of plastic wastes but also further realizes environmental wind energy harvesting, which has significant potential to alleviate energy consumption and white pollution to some extent.