ABSTRACT The electric nanogenerator offers an easy and affordable way to capture energy and operates on the premise of energy conversion. Contact electrification‐based tribological energy harvesting through the interaction between tires and road surfaces, represents a highly promising renewable resource with a significant estimated potential. One of the important factors that decides the performance and application of these nanogenerators is the material used for its fabrication. In this work, we introduced a novel energy harvester comprised of defect‐engineered Metal Organic Framework (MOF) templated CuO/TiO 2 (MCT) based triboelectric layer integrated with a 3D printed substrate for a smart power wheel. The comprehensive properties of the material are revealed by the surface potential, structural, morphological, and electrical studies, which validate MOF as a feasible choice for energy harvesting applications. The MCT‐based triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) generate a sustainable output of ∼1.6 V in flexible cantilever mode. The smart power‐wheel system successfully showed a ∼ 400% enhancement in the output performance due to the combined effects of heating and bending. The detailed density functional theory (DFT) insight in Cu/O vacancies synergistically promotes TiO 2 →CuO charge transfer through flexible Cu + /Cu 2 + redox states, facilitates electron mobility, and enhances the overall energy conversion efficiency. Overall, this study broadens the range of functional materials available for 3D printing and promotes the adoption of 3D‐printed triboelectric devices in batteryless intelligent applications within smart automobiles.
Mathias et al. (Sat,) studied this question.