Transparent Triboelectric Nanogenerator Based on Thermoplastic Polyurethane Films

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 3072-3080
Author(s):  
S. R. Srither ◽  
N. R. Dhineshbabu ◽  
D. S. Shankar Rao ◽  
S. Krishna Prasad ◽  
Oscar Dahlsten ◽  
...  

This study aims at investigating flexible and transparent thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) as a novel material for triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) devices with a polyethylene terephthalate layer. Devices having TPU—either as a flat film or as electrospun micrometer-dimension fibers with varying concentrations of TPU—were tested. The best output performing device provided 21.4 V and 23 μA as open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current respectively, with the application of a small force of 0.33 N indicating the high efficiency of the device. Devices with flat films-obtained using the doctor-blade (DB) technique—have high transparency (80%) as well as high TENG output. The topography of the TPU layer, characterized by atomic force microscopy, reveals nanoscale roughness of the film surface. Finally, we demonstrate that gentle hand tapping on the TENG device can power upto 11 light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The high transparency, lightweight, simple fabrication, flexibility, and robust features of such device make it an added value for various optoelectronic applications.

Author(s):  
Yi Zhang ◽  
Ka Chung Chan ◽  
Sau Chung Fu ◽  
Christopher Yu Hang Chao

Abstract Flutter-driven triboelectric nanogenerator (FTENG) is one of the most promising methods to harvest small-scale wind energy. Wind causes self-fluttering motion of a flag in the FTENG to generate electricity by contact electrification. A lot of studies have been conducted to enhance the energy output by increasing the surface charge density of the flag, but only a few researches tried to increase the converting efficiency by enlarging the flapping motion. In this study, we show that by simply replacing the rigid flagpole in the FTENG with a flexible flagpole, the energy conversion efficiency is augmented and the energy output is enhanced. It is found that when the flag flutters, the flagpole also undergoes aerodynamic force. The lift force generated from the fluttering flag applies a periodic rotational moment on the flagpole, and causes the flagpole to vibrate. The vibration of the flagpole, in turn amplifies the flutter of the flag. Both the fluttering dynamics of the flags with rigid and flexible flagpoles have been recorded by a high-speed camera. When the flag was held by a flexible flagpole, the fluttering amplitude and the contact area between the flag and electrode plates were increased. The energy enhancement increased as the flow velocity increased and the enhancement can be 113 times when the wind velocity is 10 m/s. The thickness of the flagpole was investigated. An optimal output of open-circuit voltage reaching 1128 V (peak-to-peak value) or 312.40 V (RMS value), and short-circuit current reaching 127.67 μA (peak-to-peak value) or 31.99 μA (RMS value) at 12.21 m/s flow velocity was achieved. This research presents a simple design to enhance the output performance of an FTENG by amplifying the fluttering amplitude. Based on the performance obtained in this study, the improved FTENG has the potential to apply in a smart city for driving electronic devices as a power source for IoT applications.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (04) ◽  
pp. 2050053
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Ghavami ◽  
Alireza Salehi

In this paper, the performance of copper-indium-gallium-diselenide Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cell, with ZnO window layer, ZnSe buffer layer, CIGS absorber layer and InGaP reflector layer was studied. The study was performed using the TCAD Silvaco simulator. The effects of grading the band gap of CIGS absorber layer, the various thicknesses and doping concentrations of different layers have been investigated. By optimizing the solar cell structure, we have obtained a maximum open circuit voltage of 0.91901 V, a short circuit current density of 39.89910 mA/cm2, a fill factor (FF) of 86.67040% and an efficiency of 31.78% which is much higher than the values for similar CIGS solar cells reported so far.


2014 ◽  
Vol 665 ◽  
pp. 111-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Huang ◽  
Xiao Ming Shen ◽  
Xiao Feng Wei

In this paper, InAlN/Si single-heterojunction solar cells have been theoretically simulated based on wxAMPS software. The photovoltaic parameters, such as open circuit voltage, short circuit current, fill factor and conversion efficiency were investigated with changing the indium content and thickness of n-InAlN layer. Simulation results show that the optimum efficiency of InAlN/Si solar cells is 23.1% under AM 1.5G spectral illuminations, with the indium content and thickness of n-InAlN layer are 0.65 and 600nm, respectively. The simulation would contribute to design and fabricate high efficiency InAlN/Si solar cells in experiment.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2125
Author(s):  
Wei-Hao Chiu ◽  
Kun-Mu Lee ◽  
Vembu Suryanarayanan ◽  
Jen-Fu Hsu ◽  
Ming-Chung Wu

Nowadays, a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) attracts attention to its development widely due to its several advantages, such as simple processes, low costs, and flexibility. In this work, we demonstrate the difference in device structures between small size and large size cells (5 cm × 5 cm, 10 cm × 10 cm and 10 cm × 15 cm). The design of the photoanode and dye-sensitized process plays important roles in affecting the cell efficiency and stability. The effects of the TiO2 electrode, using TiCl4(aq) pretreatment and post-treatment processes, are also discussed, whereas, the open-circuit voltage (Voc), short-circuit current density (Jsc), and module efficiency are successfully improved. Furthermore, the effects on module performances by some factors, such as dye solution concentration, dye soaking temperature, and electrolyte injection method are also investigated. We have demonstrated that the output power of a 5 cm × 5 cm DSSC module increases from 86.2 mW to 93.7 mW, and the module efficiency achieves an outstanding performance of 9.79%. Furthermore, enlarging the DSSC modules to two sizes (10 cm × 10 cm and 10 cm × 15 cm) and comparing the performance with different module designs (C-DSSC and S-DSSC) also provides the specific application of polymer sealing and preparing high-efficiency large-area DSSC modules.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 3797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed Abdul Moiz ◽  
A. N. M. Alahmadi ◽  
Abdulah Jeza Aljohani

Among various photovoltaic devices, the poly 3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene:poly styrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) and silicon nanowire (SiNW)-based hybrid solar cell is getting momentum for the next generation solar cell. Although, the power-conversion efficiency of the PEDOT:PSS–SiNW hybrid solar cell has already been reported above 13% by many researchers, it is still at a primitive stage and requires comprehensive research and developments. When SiNWs interact with conjugate polymer PEDOT:PSS, the various aspects of SiNW array are required to optimize for high efficiency hybrid solar cell. Therefore, the designing of silicon nanowire (SiNW) array is a crucial aspect for an efficient PEDOT:PSS–SiNW hybrid solar cell, where PEDOT:PSS plays a role as a conductor with an transparent optical window just-like as metal-semiconductor Schottky solar cell. This short review mainly focuses on the current research trends for the general, electrical, optical and photovoltaic design issues associated with SiNW array for PEDOT:PSS–SiNW hybrid solar cells. The foremost features including the morphology, surface traps, doping of SiNW, which limit the efficiency of the PEDOT:PSS–SiNW hybrid solar cell, will be addressed and reviewed. Finally, the SiNW design issues for boosting up the fill-factor, short-circuit current and open-circuit voltage will be highlighted and discussed.


2001 ◽  
Vol 668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akhlesh Gupta ◽  
I. Matulionis ◽  
J. Drayton ◽  
A.D. Compaan

ABSTRACTHigh efficiency CdTe solar cells are typically grown with CdTe thicknesses from 3 to 15 μm, although the thickness required for 90% absorption of the incident irradiation at 800 nm is only ∼1 μm. In this paper, we present the effect of CdTe thickness reduction on the performance of CdS/CdTe solar cells in which both the CdS and CdTe films were grown by sputtering. We produced a series of cells with different CdTe thickness (from 0.5 to 3.0 μm), and held the CdS thickness and back-contact-processing constant. The effect of CdTe thickness reduction on the diffusion of CdS into CdTe was studied using optical absorption and x-ray diffraction techniques. Only slight decreases occur in open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, and fill factor with decrease in CdTe film thickness to 1.0 μm. Almost 10% efficient cells were obtained with 1 μm CdTe. Below 1 μm, all cell parameters decrease more rapidly, including the red quantum efficiency.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonino Parisi ◽  
Riccardo Pernice ◽  
Vincenzo Rocca ◽  
Luciano Curcio ◽  
Salvatore Stivala ◽  
...  

We demonstrate an innovative CIGS-based solar cells model with a graded doping concentration absorber profile, capable of achieving high efficiency values. In detail, we start with an in-depth discussion concerning the parametrical study of conventional CIGS solar cells structures. We have used the wxAMPS software in order to numerically simulate cell electrical behaviour. By means of simulations, we have studied the variation of relevant physical and chemical parameters—characteristic of such devices—with changing energy gap and doping density of the absorber layer. Our results show that, in uniform CIGS cell, the efficiency, the open circuit voltage, and short circuit current heavily depend on CIGS band gap. Our numerical analysis highlights that the band gap value of 1.40 eV is optimal, but both the presence of Molybdenum back contact and the high carrier recombination near the junction noticeably reduce the crucial electrical parameters. For the above-mentioned reasons, we have demonstrated that the efficiency obtained by conventional CIGS cells is lower if compared to the values reached by our proposed graded carrier concentration profile structures (up to 21%).


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingjie Xie ◽  
Xiaoping Chen ◽  
Zhen Wen ◽  
Yanqin Yang ◽  
Jihong Shi ◽  
...  

Abstract Continuous deforming always leads to the performance degradation of a flexible triboelectric nanogenerator due to the Young’s modulus mismatch of different functional layers. In this work, we fabricated a fiber-shaped stretchable and tailorable triboelectric nanogenerator (FST–TENG) based on the geometric construction of a steel wire as electrode and ingenious selection of silicone rubber as triboelectric layer. Owing to the great robustness and continuous conductivity, the FST–TENGs demonstrate high stability, stretchability, and even tailorability. For a single device with ~ 6 cm in length and ~ 3 mm in diameter, the open-circuit voltage of ~ 59.7 V, transferred charge of ~ 23.7 nC, short-circuit current of ~ 2.67 μA and average power of ~ 2.13 μW can be obtained at 2.5 Hz. By knitting several FST–TENGs to be a fabric or a bracelet, it enables to harvest human motion energy and then to drive a wearable electronic device. Finally, it can also be woven on dorsum of glove to monitor the movements of gesture, which can recognize every single finger, different bending angle, and numbers of bent finger by analyzing voltage signals.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kawtar Belrhiti Alaoui ◽  
Saida Laalioui ◽  
Badr Ikken ◽  
Abdelkader Outzourhit

In this work, a detailed description of the various steps involved in the fabrication of high-efficiency hydrogenated amorphous-silicon cells using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, and a novel shadow masking technique is presented. The influence of the different masking methods on the cell parameters was experimentally investigated. Particularly, the short-circuit current density (Jsc), the fill factor, the open circuit voltage (Voc), and the resistive losses indicated by the shunt (Rsh) and series (Rs) resistances were measured in order to assess the performance of the cells as a function of the masks used during the cell fabrication process. The results indicate that the use of a masking technique where the p-i-n structure was first deposited over the whole surface of a 20 cm2 × 20 cm2 substrate, followed by the deposition, deposits the back contact through a metal mask, and by the ultrasonic soldering of indium to access the front contact is a good alternative to laser scribing in the laboratory scale. Indeed, a record efficiency of 8.8%, with a short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 15.6 mA/cm2, an open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.8 V, and a fill factor of 66.07% and low resistive losses were obtained by this technique. Furthermore, a spectroscopic ellipsometry investigation of the uniformity of the film properties (thickness, band gap, and refractive index) on large-area substrates, which is crucial to mini-module fabrication on a single substrate and for heterojunction development, was performed using the optimal cell deposition recipes. It was found that the relative variations of the band gap, thickness, and refractive index n are less than 1% suggesting that the samples are uniform over the 20 cm2 × 20 cm2 substrate area used in this work.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2763
Author(s):  
Xiaotao Han ◽  
Qiyuan Zhang ◽  
Junbin Yu ◽  
Jinsha Song ◽  
Zhengyang Li ◽  
...  

In this paper, we designed a triboelectric acceleration sensor with excellent multiple parameters. To more easily detect weak vibrations, the sensor was founded on a multilayer suspension structure. To effectively improve the electrical properties of the sensor, a surface roughening and internal doping friction film, which was refined with a room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber (RTV) and some thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) powder in a certain proportion, was integrated into the structure. It was found that the optimization of the RTV film increases the open circuit voltage and short circuit current of the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) by 223% and 227%, respectively. When the external vibration acceleration is less than 4 m/s2, the sensitivity and linearity are 1.996 V/(m/s2) and 0.999, respectively. Additionally, when it is in the range between 4 m/s2 and 15 m/s2, those are 23.082 V/(m/s2) and 0.975, respectively. Furthermore, the sensor was placed in a simulated truck vibration environment, and its self-powered monitoring ability validated by experiments in real time. The results show that the designed sensor has strong practical value in the field of monitoring mechanical vibration acceleration.


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