Pinching a triboelectric nanogenerator using soft pottery for powering electronics

In this paper, soft pottery was utilized for the first time as the triboelectric material to prepare a triboelectric nanogenerator (SP-TENG) and the triboelectric polarity of soft pottery was demonstrated through a series of experiments, which can get electrons during the triboelectrification process. Some commercial materials, such as nylon, conductive copper tape, and paper card, were made as the triboelectric pair, conductive electrode, and supporting structure, respectively. According to the results, the approximate values of open circuit voltage ( V oc ) can extend to 179 V, and the short-circuit current ( I sc ) can reach 5 μ A. To demonstrate the generated electrical output of SP-TENG, an electronic calculator and 54 green high-power light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can be easily powered. This research demonstrated the feasibility to utilize recyclable material to prepare TENG for harvesting energy, which could facilitate the wide and sustainable workable application of TENGs.