iScience (May 2021)

A universal managing circuit with stabilized voltage for maintaining safe operation of self-powered electronics system

  • Fan Wang,
  • Jingwen Tian,
  • Yafei Ding,
  • Yuxiang Shi,
  • Xinglin Tao,
  • Xingling Wang,
  • Ya Yang,
  • Xiangyu Chen,
  • Zhong Lin Wang

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 24, no. 5
p. 102502

Abstract

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Summary: Harvesting mechanical energy via a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is a promising strategy for solving energy problems. However, it is necessary to develop an effective and safe energy managing circuit for preventing high voltage breaking electronic devices. Here, a universal managing circuit is developed to optimize TENG's output performance, which for the first time allows the TENG to safely power various sensor systems with a safe and stable voltage. Based on the circuit, TENG's output can be transformed into a stable voltage with tunable amplitude, while an enhanced short-circuit current of 94 mA with an energy loss lower than 5% is achieved. For demonstrations, three different types of TENGs, respectively, targeting at ocean energy, wind energy, and walking energy have been prepared to reveal the capability of the circuit. This study offers a strategy to greatly enhance the output performance of TENGs to provide useful guidance for constructing self-powered and distributed sensor systems.

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