Bimetallic nanoporous carbon-based direct-current triboelectric nanogenerators for biomechanical energy harvesting and sensing

Abstract

A high-power density direct current triboelectric nanogenerator (DC-TENG) presents a promising solution for sustainable and distributed energy supply in the Industry 4.0 era. This study introduces a contact-separation mode DC-TENG that incorporates core-shell metal-organic framework-derived bimetallic nanoporous carbon (BNPC) as a functional nanofiller in the negative elastomer tribo-layer, significantly enhancing its performance. The BNPC's high surface area and porosity improve dielectric properties and charge trapping, while its bimetallic components suppress charge recombination through interfacial polarization effects. A Kapton-based mechanical rectifier is integrated to enable direct DC output, simplifying system design and enhancing energy utilization. The optimized BNPC@elastomer composite-based DC-TENG (BNDC-TENG) achieves a peak power density of 6.32 W/m2. The device demonstrates remarkable durability over 43,000 cycles and can directly charge capacitors and power small electronics. The BNDC-TENG efficiently harvests biomechanical energy from human motion and functions as a self-powered sensor for real-time activity monitoring, including walking and running detection. This work introduces innovative materials and simplified architecture for high-performance DC-TENGs, advancing sustainable energy harvesting and next-generation self-powered sensing applications.