Facile and Cost Effective Paper Based Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Self Powered Environmental Sensing System

Abstract

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have been introduced as a rational and effective way of powering the low consuming electronic devices and sensors. Mostly these nanogenerators are manufactured using costly materials and complex fabrication processes that restrict their usage especially in developing countries. In this paper, we have presented an inexpensive and facile TENG for powering the environmental sensor. Readily available and cost-effective materials were used for manufacturing TENG like paper, thread sealant PTFE tape, and pencil. The manufactured paper based TENG produced short circuit current and open circuit voltage of $110\ \mu \mathrm{A}$ and 234 V respectively. The maximum power density of $96.22\ \mu \mathrm{W} /$ cm2 was achieved at 5 M $\Omega$. The rectified signal from TENG was used to charge a capacitor array of $300\ \mu \mathrm{F}$ which was successively used to power the environmental sensor. Temperature and humidity can be measured by powering the environmental sensor with the help of the proposed TENG. This facile and cost-effective TENG can be easily manufactured and deployed in resource limited environment for self-powered sensing systems.