An Electrode-Grounded Droplet-Based Electricity Generator (EG-DEG) for Liquid Motion Monitoring

摘要

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is a potential technology for harvestingwater energy and serving as self-powered sensors. Among the innovativedesigns of TENG, a droplet-based electricity generator (DEG) has achievedhigh instantaneous power density under droplets impinging. However, theexposed top electrode is usually hydrophilic and subjected to water corrosion.This study reports an electrode-grounded droplet-based electricity generator(EG-DEG) with graphene sheets embedded carbon (GSEC) electrode.Compared with traditional electrodes, the designed device with GSECelectrode exhibits great hydrophobicity, corrosion resistance under dropletsimpinging and better output performance. The working mechanism of thedevice is discussed in depth and the performance of EG-DEG is systematicallystudied. To demonstrate the robust capability of EG-DEG as self-poweredsensors, a three-electrodes mode of EG-DEG is developed to monitor dropletvelocities on different triboelectric surfaces. Furthermore, the EG-DEG can beassembled in the pipe to acquire the flow rate of fluid according to thefrequency of the output signals. An intelligent system is further developed todisplay the flow rate of the fluid. Therefore, the EG-DEG device also shows itsgreat application prospects in particles detection and fluid analysis in thefuture.