Double bistable superposition strategy for improving the performance of triboelectric nanogenerator

The output of triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is related to the relative motion of friction materials, and it is difficult for traditional bistable TENG to have a large amplitude in a small space which is a significant challenge for wearable applications. Especially, the vibration produced by the movement of human limbs has ultra-low frequency characteristics. This paper proposes a double bistable superimposed triboelectric nanogenerator (DBSP-TENG) to achieve large amplitude motion under ultra-low frequency excitation, thereby increasing the response amplitude and output power of TENG. The simplified physical model of DBSP-TENG is analyzed and its dynamic response characteristics are numerically simulated to verify its bistability. The experimental results show that under the ultra-low frequency excitation condition, the output can be increased by superimposing bistability without changing the bistable region conditions. Compared with traditional bistable, the output voltage and power of DBSP-TENG are increased to 2.5 times and 4.2 times at 2 Hz, respectively. The application value of DBSP-TENG is further proved by human wearing experiments. DBSP-TENG can harvest ultra-low frequency vibration energy to power microelectronic components.