Design Study of Friction Nanogenerator Based on Bionic Electric eel Structure

Abstract

There exists a large amount of multidirectional and low-frequency wave energy in the ocean, and the emerging friction nanogenerator is quite advantageous in collecting the multidirectional and low-frequency wave energy in the ocean and converting it into electrical energy compared with the traditional ocean energy harvesting devices. Inspired by the biological structure of electric eel, a friction nanogenerator (BE-TENG) modeled after the electric eel is designed as a novel energy-loading device in this paper. In this paper, we firstly designed the BE-TENG structure with a semi-cylindrical shell as the main body, combined with a crankshaft-like structure and a biomimetic fin swing rod to simulate the electric eel's tail fins to ensure the balance of the device; secondly, we proposed a helical power generation structure, and the short-circuit current under the same conditions increased from 1.37 μA to 3.05 μA compared with the ordinary PTFE-Al friction pair, which is a 2.23-fold enhancement; and thirdly, this paper explores the potential relationship between the BE-TENG dielectric layer and the electrode layer and the factors affecting the output performance of BE-TENG, and investigates the effective friction area between the composite dielectric layer and the electrode layer, the thickness of the composite dielectric layer, and the influence on the output performance of BE-TENG by controlling the single-factor variables; finally, under the conditions of the present experiments, it was obtained that the Finally, under the present experimental conditions, the best output performance of BE-TENG is obtained when the effective contact area between the BE-TENG composite dielectric layer and the electrode layer is 32π cm2 and the thickness of the composite dielectric layer is 0.3 mm, and the optimized BE-TENG further improves its ability to collect blue energy, with a view to providing a new idea for the application of friction nano-generators and the protection of the blue ocean environment.