Bacterial cellulose nanofiber triboelectric nanogenerator based on dielectric particles hybridized system

Abstract Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) is an emerging method to convert mechanical energy into electricity, however, the complicated methods to improve the output performance greatly limited their potential applications. In this work, a simple and effective method was used to improve bacteria cellulose (BC) based TENG. The BC composite film friction material with a hybridized system of silver nanowires and BaTiO3 (BTO) particles was prepared by filtration method. One-dimensional silver nanowires particles and tetragonal phase BTO particles played an important role in improving the dielectric constant and surface roughness of the material respectively. With the combination of the enhancement of dielectric constant and the improvement of surface structure of the BC composite film, the short-circuit current of BC/AgNWs/BTO-based TENG was 7.1 μA, the open-circuit voltage was 87 V, and the transfer charge was 35 nC at a frequency of 3 Hz. In addition, when an external resistor was connected, the peak power density can reach 75 μW/cm2, and the overall TENG had good output stability. Moreover, the BC/AgNWs/BTO-based TENG can collect mechanical energy through human–machine movement when combined with a portable electronic device. This work demonstrates the great potential of cellulose-based materials in TENG and other electronic applications.