Breeze-driven triboelectric nanogenerator for wind energy harvesting and application in smart agriculture

Abstract Smart agriculture is becoming an inevitable trend with the wide application of sensor networks. To supply energy for agricultural sensors, the wind energy harvester supports a possible solution. However, the average wind speed on the earth surface is only 3.28 m/s, which cannot easily be harvested by traditional generators efficiently. To efficiently harvest breeze energy in the farmland environment, a breeze-driven triboelectric nanogenerator (BD-TENG) was proposed. By selecting lightweight rotor materials and designing suitable wind scoops structures, the start-up wind speed of BD-TENG is as low as 3.3 m/s, and when the wind speed is 4 m/s, the energy conversion efficiency of the BD-TENG can reach 12.06%. Moreover, under 4 m/s wind speed, the output performance of the BD-TENG is 330 V, 7 μA, 137 nC, and the peak power is 2.81 mW. So, the BD-TENG is easier to operate normally even in low wind speed environments and can harvest natural breeze energy efficiently. Experiments prove that in natural environments, the BD-TENG successfully lights up 300 red and blue light-emitting diodes in series, which can be applied to increase lighting time for plants at night. Moreover, the BD-TENG can power a soil thermometer by harvesting natural breeze energy. Therefore, the BD-TENG can be widely used in farmland environments to provide energy for agricultural sensor networks. The BD-TENG has bright prospects in smart agriculture and can promote its sustainable development.