Improved Degradation Efficiency of Levofloxacin by a Self-Powered Electrochemical System with Pulsed Direct-Current

Recent Progress of Advanced Materials for Triboelectric Nanogenerators

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have received intense attention due to their broad application prospects in the new era of internet of things (IoTs) as distributed power sources and self-powered sensors. Advanced materials are vital components for TENGs, which decide their comprehensive performance and application scenarios, opening up the opportunity to develop efficient TENGs and expand their potential applications. In this review, a systematic and comprehensive overview of the advanced materials for TENGs is presented, including materials classifications, fabrication methods, and the properties required for applications. In particular, the triboelectric, friction, and dielectric performance of advanced materials is focused upon and their roles in designing the TENGs are analyzed. The recent progress of advanced materials used in TENGs for mechanical energy harvesting and self-powered sensors is also summarized. Finally, an overview of the emerging challenges, strategies, and opportunities for research and development of advanced materials for TENGs is provided.

Improving Wastewater Treatment by Triboelectric-Photo/Electric Coupling Effect

The ability to meet higher effluent quality requirements and the reduction of energy consumption are the biggest challenges in wastewater treatment worldwide. A large proportion of the energy generated during wastewater treatment processes is neglected and lost in traditional wastewater treatment plants. As a type of energy harvesting system, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) can extensively harvest the microscale energies generated from wastewater treatment procedures and auxiliary devices. This harvested energy can be utilized to improve the removal efficiency of pollutants through photo/electric catalysis, which has considerable potential application value in wastewater treatment plants. This paper gives an overall review of the generated potential energies (e.g., water wave energy, wind energy, and acoustic energy) that can be harvested at various stages of the wastewater treatment process and introduces the application of TENG devices for the collection of these neglected energies during wastewater treatment. Furthermore, the mechanisms and catalytic performances of TENGs coupled with photo/electric catalysis (e.g., electrocatalysis, photoelectric catalysis) are discussed to realize higher pollutant removal efficiencies and lower energy consumption. Then, a thorough, detailed investigation of TENG devices, electrode materials, and their coupled applications is summarized. Finally, the intimate coupling of self-powered photoelectric catalysis and biodegradation is proposed to further improve removal efficiencies in wastewater treatment. This concept is conducive to improving knowledge about the underlying mechanisms and extending applications of TENGs in wastewater treatment to better solve the problems of energy demand in the future.

Improving Degradation Efficiency of Organic Pollutants through a Self-Powered Alternating Current Electrocoagulation System

Although electrocoagulation technology has been widely researched in wastewater treatment, high energy consumption and electrode passivation are still the main challenges for its widespread applications. Here, we propose a self-powered electrocoagulation system based on a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with alternating current (AC) outputs to solve these two issues, and thus enhance the removal efficiency of organic pollutants. Compared with the direct current source, the AC power source can reduce the electrode passivation, produce more aluminum hydroxide compounds after consuming an equal amount of charges, and thus improve the degradation efficiency. Moreover, the removal efficiency can be further enhanced by decreasing the frequency AC, in which a 5.7-fold improvement was achieved at 0.2 Hz compared to DC at 1.8 Hz. Inspired by the low frequency of ocean wave water, we developed a self-powered AC-electrocoagulation system to directly drive the electrocoagulation reaction by harvesting water wave energy, which can effectively remove 94.8% of xylenol orange and 98.8% of water-oil emulsion, and thus completely address the problem of energy consumption. This study further promotes the application of self-powered electrochemical systems in treating environmental pollution.

Low-Cost, Environmentally Friendly, and High-Performance Triboelectric Nanogenerator Based on a Common Waste Material

With the great progress in human activities and production technologies, the waste inevitably produced causes not only environmental pollution but also resource waste; meanwhile, the mobile and portable electronic devices urgently need a distributed and sustainable energy source to ensure their stable operation. Here, the waste pollutants (milk cartons) generated from daily life, commonly associated with environmental concerns, are instead identified as an available resource for preparing an emerging energy harvester (triboelectric nanogenerator, TENG), which can convert ubiquitous mechanical energy into electric power. Consequently, based on the waste material, the initial charge density of the TENG is as low as 0.035 mC m^-2, which can be tremendously improved to 1.00 mC m^-2 through combining a charge excitation circuit, achieving efficient energy harvesting. In addition, compared to the common dielectric film, the waste material can reduce the cost and simplify the process of the preparation of TENG. This work provides not only an innovative approach to simultaneously realize environmental protection and energy harvesting but also more material choice for the preparation of a low-cost and high-performance TENG.