title: Motion charged battery as sustainable flexible-power-unit.
abstract: Energy harvesting and storage are the two most important energy technologies developed for portable, sustainable, and self-sufficient power sources for mobile electronic systems. However, both have limitations for providing stable direct-current (DC) with an infinite lifetime. Herein, we integrated a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG)-based mechanical energy harvester with Li-ion-battery (LIB)-based energy storage as a single device for demonstrating a flexible self-charging power unit (SCPU), which allows a battery to be charged directly by ambient mechanical motion. This physical integration enables a new operation mode of the SCPU: the "sustainable mode", in which the LIB stores the TENG-generated electricity while it is driving an external load. With the LIB being replenished by the ambient mechanical energy, the SCPU can keep providing a constant voltage to the load by utilizing the stable difference between the battery's intrinsic electrode potentials. This study will impact the traditional trends of battery research and advance the development of the self-powered systems.
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0245, United States.
authors.forename: Sihong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zong-Hong
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Simiao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Yannan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Ken C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Pradel
authors.forename: Zhong Lin
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004560:Electricity; D004581:Electronics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D004864:Equipment and Supplies; D007477:Ions; D008094:Lithium / Q000737:chemistry; D009038:Motion; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D007477:Ions; C009495:titanium dioxide; D002244:Carbon; D008094:Lithium; D014025:Titanium