With the extensive industrial growth driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the excessive use of fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions have accelerated global warming. Energy harvesting technologies have garnered significant attention as a potential solution to this issue. Among them, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have emerged as promising candidates for energy collection and conversion. However, TENGs typically face limitations in providing an efficient energy supply due to their high output voltage and low output current. To overcome these challenges, numerous studies have explored various methods to enhance the output performance by increasing the surface area of the triboelectric materials. Herein, we report a high-output TENG fabricated through a simple scratch process. By utilizing sandpaper, typically used for abrasion or polishing, the surface roughness of the triboelectric material PFA was increased through surface scratching. The surface-engineered TENG, prepared through this simple and rapid process, demonstrated enhanced output characteristics with a voltage of 276 V and a current of 72 μA, showing a 21% increase in voltage and a 41% increase in current compared to the non-engineered counterpart, providing sufficient energy to power an LED. These results indicate that the scratch-based surface modification process using sandpaper offers an effective solution for improving triboelectric output performance, establishing TENGs as a key contributor to sustainable energy supply.
The Internet of Things (IoT) device is a key component for Industry 4.0, which is the network in homes, factories, buildings, and infrastructures to monitor and control the systems. To demonstrate the IoT network, batteries are widely utilized as power sources, and the batteries inevitably require repeated replacement due to their limited capacity. Magneto-mechanoelectric (MME) generators are one of the candidate to develop self-powered IoT systems since MME generators can harvest electricity from stray alternating current (AC) magnetic fields arising from electric power cables. Herein, we report a magnetomechano- triboelectric generator enabled by a ferromagnetic-ferroelectric composite. In the triboelectric nylon matrix, a ferromagnetic carbonyl iron powder (CIP) was introduced to induce magnetic force near the AC magnetic field for MME harvesting. Additionally, a ferroelectric ceramic powder was also added to the MME composite material to enhance the chargetrapping capability during triboelectric harvesting. The final ferromagnetic-ferroelectric composite-based MME triboelectric harvester can generate an open-circuit voltage and a short-circuit current of 110 V and 8 μA, respectively, which were enough to turn on a light emitting diode (LED) and charge a capacitor. These results verify the feasibility of the MME triboelectric generator for not only harvesting electricity from an AC magnetic field but also for various self-powered IoT applications.