Co-authors​ :

 Chang-Mou WU (TAIWAN), Kebena Gebeyehu MOTORA , Cathlene Roi Mongaya JOSE , Gokana Mohana RANI  

Currently, environmental pollution and energy crises are major problems in our world that requires urgent solutions. In this context, the emphasis is on recycling and reusing waste to generate new functional materials and devices. Production of energy using waste materials can play a significant role in simultaneous waste treatment and clean energy generation that are mandatory for this world. Thus, discovery of green and renewable energy source using waste material is compulsory. Harvesting energy using nanogenerators have received huge attentions. Among energy-harvesting nanogenerators, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has got huge consideration due to its low-cost, and effective energy conversion. Nonetheless, its real application is hindered by limited electrical performance, and durability. Thus, designing, selection of suitable material and development of effective, and stable TENG device is essential. Recently, some researchers have reported that some waste materials can be used in development TENG devices. Converting waste into an energy harvester has the potential to not only decrease environmental pollution and the electricity consumed through traditional waste disposal but also produce renewable electricity, improving the pressure on energy demand. Hence, development of TENG based on waste materials is pivotal. Accordingly, in this work, biowaste material based device keratin enhanced chitosan (CK) TENG was developed. Then, its triboelectric energy harvesting and potential applications were evaluated through powering of electronic device and sound energy absorption. Besides, the triboelectric performance of the CK TENG was improved via the incorporation of intermediate layer. The findings reveal that the developed CK TENG device possesses outstanding triboelectric properties by harvesting 324 V output voltage, 14.4 W/m2 power density, lighting 250 light emitting diodes, displaying liquid crystal display device, and charging capacitors under an applied force of 6 N. Moreover, it has the potential to harvest waste vibration and sound energy. The incorporation of carbon black film (CB) as an intermediate layer has largely improved the triboelectric performance of the TENG device. Particularly, the output voltage and power density have improved by 46%, and 60%, respectively. This work paves the way for biowaste-derived materials and the use of carbon film intermediate layers in TENGs for green energy harvesting and simultaneous waste energy utilization that could play significant roles in areas of applications such as charging of electronic devices, biomedical, sensors, and smart textiles.