Multifunctional Sponge-like Biochar@ZnO Nanorods Material: Applications in Triboelectric Nanogenerators to Enhance Photocatalysis

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have emerged as promising devices for harvesting mechanical energy and enhancing photocatalytic processes, offering innovative pathways toward sustainable technologies. In this study, we report the fabrication of a TENG using environmentally friendly materials. A sponge-like biochar@ZnO nanorods (NRs) composite, synthesized via pyrolysis followed by chemical bath deposition, served as the positive dielectric material, while a PDMS@GO composite formed the negative dielectric layer. The resulting device achieved a power density of 35.11 mW.m–2, an output voltage of 7.6 V, a load resistance of 47 MΩ, and a current of 0.16 μA. The TENGs demonstrated excellent reproducibility, delivering consistent voltage outputs across triplicate measurements, and successfully charged a 1000 μF capacitor within 4 h. Beyond energy harvesting, the TENG was integrated into a photocatalytic system to evaluate its performance in degrading methylene blue (MB). When two TENG units were employed, the degradation efficiency reached 42% within 2 h, confirming the synergistic interaction between the TENG’s energy-harvesting mechanism and photocatalysis. These findings demonstrate not only the feasibility of employing sustainable materials in TENG fabrication, in line with circular economy principles, but also the potential of TENG-assisted photocatalysis as a multifunctional strategy for both renewable energy conversion and environmental remediation.