A top-electrode-based liquid-solid triboelectric nanogenerator for energy harvesting and ethanol detection

Subrat  BHOL; Nakul Charan  SAHU; Sunit Gaurav  MOHANTY; Vicky Raj  MADDALA; Basanta Kumar  PANIGRAHI; Premkumar Bhosale

doi:10.55713/jmmm.v36i1.2600

Authors

Subrat BHOL Department of Electrical Engineering, Siksha O Anusandhan (deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar 751030, India
Nakul Charan SAHU Department of Electrical Engineering, Siksha O Anusandhan (deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar 751030, India
Sunit Gaurav MOHANTY Department of Environmental Sciences, Sambalpur University, Burla 768019, India
Vicky Raj MADDALA Department of Physics, Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada, 520008, India
Basanta Kumar PANIGRAHI Department of Electrical Engineering, Siksha O Anusandhan (deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar 751030, India
Premkumar Bhosale School of Nanoscience & Technology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur 416004, India.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55713/jmmm.v36i1.2600

Keywords:

liquid-solid, energy harvesting, ethanol detection

Abstract

Liquid-solid triboelectric nanogenerators (LS-TENGs) offer a promising avenue for self-powered energy harvesting and sensing by exploiting contact electrification at fluid-dielectric interfaces, where droplet dynamics drive charge separation for electrical output without external power. In this work, a top-electrode LS-TENG was fabricated using a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film on a PMMA substrate with deionised water droplets, achieving an open-circuit voltage of ‒3.4 V, short-circuit current of 3.6 μA, and peak power of 1.48 nW at 100 MΩ under optimised conditions of 2 cm drop height, 45° tilt, and 50 μL volume. Performance scaled with droplet kinetics and volume due to enhanced contact area and charge transfer, while stability persisted over repeated cycles, and ethanol-water mixtures distinctly modulated outputs via reduced permittivity and wettability, enabling sensitive, battery-free detection for practical applications in environmental monitoring.

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