Fyp Project Report Azam

ROTATIONAL FRICTION SURFACE ENERGY OF
TRIBOELECTRIC GENERATOR
MUHAMMAD AZAM BIN MOHD YAZID

A15MJ0219
SUPERVISOR
DR. HAFIZAL BIN YAHAYA
Bachelor of Mechanical Precision Engineering
Faculty of Malaysia Japan Institute International Technology

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I have been working hard in finishing this final year project (FYP). I cannot
simply manage to finish it up if not by the help from many people.
First of all, I would like to thank my beloved parents. They have been giving
so much support during the two-semester period to finish all things. Although they do
not involve directly in this project but I believe that they have create such good
working environment that motivate me and they also encourage me to keep doing the
research even though I face so much hard times.
Next, I would like to give special thanks to the people that have been involving
in the project directly. My sincere appreciation goes to my supervisor, Dr. Hafizal Bin
Yahaya for guiding me throughout the hard time to finish up the research. He has given
so much comments on my work. Some of them are positive and some are negative but
I believe both of it leads me to smooth path to the end of the research. I always remind
myself not to work alone all the time during this research because I am actually one of
the eMast iKohza member so that I should engage actively with other members. Those
members are Mrs. Marina and Dr. Azmah. They have supplied me lot of beneficial
information regarding the research. They actually have their own students to care for
but still they can spend their limited time to help me.
Finally, I thank my colleagues for their help in finishing this research. They
share what they know about my research and also give me idea on how to conduct the
experiment in a proper way. I hope that they will also success in their research.
ABSTRACT
Nowadays, people aware of the many brilliant idea to harvest energy

throughout new technique instead of the traditional or conventional ways. Most of
technology and portable device may go to green and low power consumption, which
makes it possible to use the energy harvested from the working environment of the
device itself to power directly the device. The advancement in nanoenergy field has
paved the path for the next level of energy generation methods. Application of
nanomaterials and nanotechnology for harvesting energy to power micro/nano-
systems is emerging is nanoenergy field. Charges induced in triboelectric process are
usually referred as a negative effect either in scientific research or technological
applications, and they are wasted energy in many cases. Here, we demonstrate a
simple, low cost and effective approach of using the charging process in sliding and
friction to convert mechanical energy into electric power for driving small electronics.
The triboelectric generator (TEG) is fabricated by placing two polymer sheets made
of materials having distinctly different tribo-polarity characteristics to the roller rods,
with copper electrodes attached on the outer side of the assembled structure. It utilizes
the most common materials available in our daily life, such as papers, fabrics,
Aluminium (Al), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Nylon, Kapton and etc. Once subjected
to rotation, a friction and sliding between the two films, owing to the nanoscale surface
roughness, generates equal amount but opposite signs of charges at two sides. A
triboelectric potential layer is formed at the interface region, which serves as a charge
‘‘pump’’ for driving the flow of electrons in the external load if there is a variation in
the capacitance of the system. Such a simple TEG gives an output current of up to
6.04mA. This type o TEG produce current in the range of milli scale. Various
combination of materials selected based on Triboelectric Series give different current
output. Changing speed of motor that drive the roller rods also will affect the current
output. The surface roughness of the materials also affects current output. TEGs have
the potential of harvesting energy from human activities, rotating tires, ocean waves,
mechanical vibration and more, with great applications in self-powered systems for
personal electronics, environmental monitoring, medical science and even large-scale
power.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Research Background 1
1.2 Problem Statement 6
1.3 Research Motivation 7
1.4 Research Objectives 7
1.5 Research Scope 8
1.6 Significant of Research 8
1.7 Summary of Work 9
2 LITERATURE REVIEW 10
2.1 Triboelectric Nanogenerator 10
2.2 Types of Operation TEG 11
2.2.1Attached Electrode Vertical Contact- 12
Separation Mode TEG
2.2.2 Sliding-Mode Attached Electrode TEG 13
2.2.3 Single Electrode Mode TEG 14
2.2.4 Freestanding Triboelectric-Layer Mode TEG 15
3 METHODOLOGY 16
3.1 Research Flow Chart 16
3.2 Sample Selection 17
3.3 Sample Preparation 18
3.4 Rolling TEG prototype 20
3.5 Experimental Setup 21
3.6 Sample Material Used 24
3.7 Parameter in Rolling TEG 25
4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION 26
4.1 Introduction 26
4.2 Voltage Output VS Material Combination 27
4.3 Current Output VS Material Combination 31
4.4 Current Output VS Surface Roughness 35
5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 44
5.1 Conclusion 44
5.2 Recommendation 46
APPENDICES 47
REFERENCES 66
CHAPTER 1
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research Background
Energy harvesting and conversion devices using nanotechnology have received

increasing interest recently because they are likely to play a vital role in building and
driving self-powered nanodevices and nanosystems [1-7]. The production volume and
the demand of the nanodevices keeps increasing lead to the introduction of new
technique to power it up. Most of us must have known about the present of an energy
harvesting device that look similar to TEG which is piezoelectric. Various materials
and designs of nanogenerators based on piezoelectric effect have been demonstrated
[8-14].
Triboelectrification happens in our daily lives but most of the time we do not
know how to manipulate it into something beneficial. We usually consider it as a
negative effect with very limited positive application. A TEG is an energy harvesting
device that converts ambient mechanical force into electricity. The electric created by
TEG is driven by two important factors which is triboelectrification and electrostatic
induction. In 2012, Prof. Zhong Lin Wang’s group at Georgia Institute of Technology
had come up with new type of TEG [15]. As this power generation unit, in the inner
circuit, an energy is created by the triboelectric effect due to the charge transfer
between two thin organic/inorganic films that exhibit opposite tribo-polarity; in the
outer circuit, electrons are driven to flow between two electrodes attached on the back
sides of the films to make sure the potential is balance. This new type of TEG also
known as organic nanogenerator since the most useful materials used are organic,
which is the first of using organic materials for harvesting mechanical energy [16].
This research focus on the mechanical parts that produce most wasted energy from
friction and sliding motion.
2
Ever since the introduction of the new type of TEG in January 2012, the output
power density of TEG has been improved for five orders of magnitude within 12
months. The area power density reaches 313 W/m2, volume density reaches 490
kW/m3, and a conversion efficiency of ~60% has been demonstrated. Besides the
unprecedented output performance, this new energy technology also has a number of
other advantages, such as low cost in manufacturing and fabrication, excellent
robustness and reliability, environmental-friendly, and so on. Figure 1 below show
some of the new type of TEG over twelve after the TEG produced by Prof Zong Lin
Wang [16].
Figure 1: A summary on the progress made in the output power density of

triboelectric nanogenerators within 12 months.
Our daily activities have produced much wasted mechanical energy so that we
should find a way make it useful. This triboelectric generator can be applied to harvest
all potential wasted mechanical energy, such as human motion, walking, vibration,
mechanical triggering, rotating tire, wind, flowing water and more.
3
The TEG has four fundamental operation modes:

(a) vertical contact- separation mode;
(b) in-plane contact- sliding mode;
(c) single- electrode mode;
(d) freestanding triboelectric- layer mode
Figure 2 shows the illustration of the fundamental mode of TEG [17]. Each mode has
distinctive qualities and can be applied in various appropriate applications.
Figure 2: The Four Fundamental Modes of TEG [17].
Almost all materials known exhibit the triboelectrification effect, from metal,
to polymer, to silk and to wood, almost everything. These materials can be candidates
for fabricating TEGs, so that the materials choices for TEG are huge. There must be a
way to classify these materials into a specific group in terms of charge transfer or
electron affinity. The ability of a material for gaining/losing electron depends on its
polarity. John Carl Wilcke published the first Triboelectric Series in a 1757 on static
charges. The chart in Figure 3 below is partial part of the series that cover up some
positive and negative materials
4
Figure 3: Triboelectric Series
A material towards the bottom of the series, when touched to a material near
the top of the series, will attain a more negative charge. The further away two materials
are from each other on the series, the greater the charge transferred. This chart shows
the static buildup tendencies of various materials. A chart that shows static buildup
tendencies by type of material is called a "static buildup array”. This chart is used to
select the suitable material to uses in this research. When two materials from the static
buildup array are touched together, materials nearer the top of the graph will tend to
have a positive charge, while materials nearer the bottom of the array will tend to have
a negative charge. This chart is very useful to understand the basic principle of
triboelectrification of two materials which are in contact to each other.
A typical structure of a polymer based triboelectric generator (TEG) is schematically

shown in Figure 4(a). The TEG is like a sandwiched structure with two different
5
polymer sheets stacked alternatively without interlayer binding. The two short edges
of the device were sealed with ordinary adhesive tape and to ensure an adequate
contact between two polymer sheets. Both the top and bottom surfaces of the structure
were covered with a thin layer of Au alloy film (100 nm in thickness) by sputter
coating. The metal films play two important roles here:
(1) Producing equal but opposite sign mobile charges via the electrostatic
induction of the tribology generated potential at the interfacial region;
(2) Served as common electrodes for directly connecting the device with
an external circuit.
Figure 4: Schematic illustration of the structure and working principle of the

triboelectric generator
Figure 4(b) shows the mechanism of typical type of TEG. Charges are
generated by frictioning two polymer films, which results in the creation of a
triboelectric potential layer at the interfacial region (indicated by dashed lines); a
mechanical compression results in a change in the distance between the two electrodes
(from D to d), thus, under the driving of the triboelectric potential, a change in system
6
capacitance leads to the flow of current in the external load which drives the flow of
the free electrons across the electrodes to minimize the total energy of the system.
1.2 Problem Statement
Scientists and chemists are focusing on the approach to using organic materials
as a way to generate electrical energy. It is important not only to generate electrical
energy but also how to control the energy output in terms of the efficiency. They
visualize that much more enhancement of the output power density will be
demonstrated. They have been testing a lot of materials which are having great
potential to generate electrical energy. There are many variable and parameters should
be considered during the testing to ensure accurate result. Hence, this research is
conducted to find the best parameters that will affect the generation of electrical
energy.
The common TEG does not only serve as a micro-scale power source for
mobile and portable electronics, but it also has the potential to convert water energy
from ocean and wind into great electrical energy. This has open new field of energy
which is blue energy. It is an energy field that goes beyond green energy. So, a new
technique will be developed during this research which is roller rod technique. This
prototype TEG can be implemented in manufacturing industry. Almost all
manufacture has a system driven by conveyor belt that always rotating all the time.
This roller rod TEG is appropriate to applied in the conveyor belt system as it rotates
continuously. The current can be used to drive small electronics components such as
sensors.
7
1.3 Research Motivation
With the growing requirement of electronics, it is of great importance to

investigate clean and portable energy sources. Our surrounding environment has an
abundance of energies including mechanical energy, wind power, solar energy,
thermal energy, chemical energies etc, [18–21] which can be collected and exploited.
Researchers have developed various self-sufficient power sources by scavenging
various forms of energy sources from the environment [22,23]. However, conventional
technologies could not reach the requirement of high-efficient and sustainable
capability. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new energy harvesters for solving the
power source issues of future functional electronics.
Our responsible to create new harvesting energy. Not just use it but make it a
new energy for future generation. Our new generation still needed energy resource to
live in this world. In the future distributed networks of complex devices will become
even more relevant. Up to now, the majority of distributed systems is powered by
electrical wires or from batteries. However, both concepts are limited applicable in
case of very large networks or if the devices are hardly accessible. With the increase
of distributed complex networks alternative power supply concepts are needed.
1.4 Research Objectives
The objectives of the research are:

1. To identify the best material combination to produce output current
2. To carry out experiment by using the fabricated roller type TEG.
3. To investigate the effect of the roller speed to the production of electrical
current.
4. To analyse the effect of surface roughness of the material to the production of
electrical current.
8
1.5 Research Scope
Experiments are carried out throughout the duration of this research with three
different parameters. The first parameter in creating triboelectric generator is to find
the right pair materials (positive and negative) within triboelectric series. This research
will be conducted by using six materials which is three positive materials and three
negative materials (Positive: Aluminium, Nylon, Paper; Negative: Kapton, PVC,
Polyethylene) There will be total of nine combinations of positive-negative tribo-
polarity material. All of these combinations will undergo through experiment to test
the current output with different roller speed. Then, the surface roughness will be
modified by using four different grit size of sandpaper (P240, P600, P1000 and P1200).
Finally, from previous result we will select only the best few pair of materials to see
the output current from different speed of “roller rod” speed which is 2000rpm,
3000rpm and 6000rpm. The period of the experiment for each material combination is
5 minutes. Current output will be measured accordingly by using oscilloscope.
1.6 Significant of Research
TEG has been proven to be a powerful source of electrical energy to efficiently

convert ambient mechanical energy into electricity. Besides the unprecedented output
performance, this new energy technology also has a number of other advantages, such
as low cost in manufacturing and fabrication. It experienced substantial growth in the
past years owing to its appealing features that make it superior than other self-
powering principles. The fast-growing demand for flexible electronics, such as
wearable electronics, bendable displays, and electronic skin has caused TEGs to be
studied extensively to analyse the possibility of it to be power sources. Suitable
materials and optimized structures are two key elements, which can affect both the
output performance and mechanical stability of the TEGs. However, the previous
study and undergoing research still leave a study gap that could be further improved.
Hence, it is very important to keep testing TEG with various technique by referring to
the fundamental modes of TEG.
9
1.7 Summary Work
Gantt Chart (Semester 1 and Semester 2)
Table 1: Work Plan Flow

A S O N D J F M A M
MONTHS
U E C O E A E A P A
G P T V C N B C R Y
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9
ACTIVITY
Literature review
Material purchasing
Preparation of material
Differentiate material in term of
surface types
Experimental setup and data
collection
Data analysis and TEG
optimization
Structuring data and thesis writing
Completed thesis writing
CHAPTER 2
2.0 LITERITURE REVIEW
2.1 Triboelectric Nanogenerators
Triboelectrification is an effect that exists widely in human life. It is one of the

fundamental principles of TEGs, which creates static polarized charges. TEGs always
contain two different materials that are assembled face to face. When the two materials
are in contact, opposite static charges appear on the surfaces due to contact
electrification. In addition, the back side of the materials has an electrode. The charges
can flow between two electrodes through an external circuit and a potential difference
is created as the materials are separate. Triboelectric effect, which is the behaviour of
charge transfer across the interface of two different materials when brought into
contact in the form such as vertical touching or parallel friction, caused by chemical
potential difference of the two surfaces [15]. The phenomenon has been observed long
time ago and was mostly treated as harmful effect to electronic devices. In 2012, a
newly invented technology, called triboelectric generators (TEG), overcome the above
drawbacks and exhibit unique figure of merits, including large output power, high
efficiency, low weight and cost-effective materials, simple fabrication, and high
adaptability to different applications. [15] The main working principle of triboelectric
generators is a conjugation between the contact electrification and electrostatic
induction. When two dielectrics (or one dielectric and one metal) contact with each
other, polarized triboelectric charge will be generated due to the contact electrification
effect. [17,24-26] Then when the polarized triboelectric charges are separated by the
external mechanical motion, external work will be done to overcome the attraction
force between the polarized triboelectric charges. Through this process, the mechanical
energy is converted into electricity.
11
TEG that uses four rotating roller rods, which are driven by a dc motor will be
developed. [27] The triboelectric series will be referred to determine the suitable
triboelectric materials which is Aluminum, Nylon, Paper, Kapton, Polyethylene and
PVC that will be used in this experiment. This project will be focusing on three
significant parameters; material combination, surface roughness of each material
combination and speed of the roller rods.
2.2 Types of Operation TEG
Experimental works on TEGs has been progressing and it has been used to
various applications. There are several fundamental operation modes available but
most of the operation could be summarized to have four important modes which are
attached-electrode contact-mode triboelectric generators, [27,28] attached-electrode
sliding-mode triboelectric generators, [29-31] single-electrode triboelectric
generators, [30,31] and freestanding triboelectric-layer-based generators [32-35].
These four fundamental modes of TEG will be elaborated in the nest section to give
overview on how each mode is working.
The designing and fabrication process of roller rod TEG will be based on these
fundamental modes. The roller rod TEG is mostly related to two modes which is
vertical contact separation mode and also sliding mode. The dominant mode in this
type of TEG is actually sliding where the materials will be touching to each other
during the rotation where the friction between the materials exhibit.
It is very important to get right view about all those four fundamental modes
of TEG as it can make things easier for us to determine the potential new technique to
harvest energy. The next section will explain deeper about the modes of TEG.
12
2.2.1 Attached Electrode Vertical Contact-Separation Mode TEG
The working mechanism of the triboelectric generator can be described as the

periodic change of the potential difference induced by the cycled separation and re-
contact of the opposite triboelectric charges on the inner surfaces of the two
organic/inorganic material sheets. When a mechanical force is applied onto the device
that contains TEG mechanism to bend or press it, the inners surfaces of the two sheets
will get into close contact and the charge transfer will begin, leaving one side of the
surface with positive charges and the other with negative charges. This is what we
called as triboelectric effect where the charge is transferred at the interfaces. When the
device returns to its original shape, the two surfaces with opposite charges will separate
automatically, so that these opposite triboelectric charges will generate an electric field
in between and thus induce a potential difference across the top and bottom electrodes.
This potential difference will be balance when the electrons flow from one electrode
to the other through the external load. This process is called electrostatic induction.
The current will flow throughout the external circuit until the potentials of the two
electrodes get back to same level again. When the two sheets are pressed towards each
other again, the induced potential difference will decrease to zero causing the flow of
the transferred charged back through the external load. The current will be produced
but in opposite direction. When this periodic mechanical deformation lasts, the
alternating current (AC) signals will be continuously generated [31,33]. Figure 4
illustrates the process explained above.
Figure 4: Vertical contact-separation mode of TEG

13
We also have conductor-to-dielectric model. The fundamental of this model is

similar to dielectric-to-dielectric contact model. In dielectric-to-dielectric model, both
of the material is dielectric but it is different to conductor-to-dielectric model where
one of the materials will be replaced by a conductor layer. As compared with the
conductor-to-dielectric model, the efficiency of induced electron transfer in conductor-
to-dielectric model is lower because of the electrostatic screening effect. However, the
conductor-to-dielectric model is more practical because of the easier movements of
triboelectric layer. For example, it has been utilized to scavenge energy from air flow
[36], rotating tire [37], and rain drop [38]. There are also other theoretical models such
as metal-to-dielectric sliding-mode TEG, single electrode mode TEG, and sliding-
mode freestanding TEG. In addition, these TEGs have been used to harvest energy
from rotation motion, air flow, and a moving automobile.
2.2.2 Sliding-Mode Attached Electrode TEG
Besides the contact-mode attached-electrode triboelectric generators that are

based on vertical charge separation, another important category of attached-electrode
triboelectric generator is sliding-mode attached-electrode triboelectric generators. A
typical attached-electrode sliding-mode triboelectric generator is shown in the
following figure. [39] Two dielectrics Nylon and PTFE are shown as two tribo-pair
materials. Two metal electrodes were sputtered to one side of the polymer. Two glass
slides were employed to support the whole structure. The bottom plate is fixed on the
measurement platform and the top plate is driven by a linear motor. (refer Figure 5)
Figure 5: Linear Sliding Mode

14
There are two regular friction force which is normal contact and lateral sliding.
TEG can be fabricated based on the in-plane sliding between two material that have
different tribo-polarity [40]. An intensive triboelectrification that is induced by sliding
friction cause a periodic change in the surface contact area. The change of contact area
will cause the lateral separation of the charge centers, which creates a voltage drop to
drive the flow of electrons through the external circuit.
2.2.3 Single Electrode Mode TEG
In the above two attached electrode TEG, the materials will be attached to two
electrodes. This design has some limitations that will affect the application of TEGs
because the moving object of many practical applications does not belong to the device
system. One way to overcome this weakness is to use single-electrode TEG [16-17]
and freestanding-triboelectric-layer based generators [12-15] are designed with fixed
electrodes. Figure 6 shows the basic working principle of a single electrode mode of
TEG. A single-electrode-based triboelectric nanogenerator is introduced as a more
practical and feasible design for some applications such as fingertip-driven
triboelectric nanogenerator.
Figure 6: Single Electrode Mode

15
2.2.4 Freestanding Triboelectric-Layer Mode TEG
Mechanical energy harvesting from arbitrary moving objects such as humans

can be done in versatile approach with a new mode of triboelectric nanogenerator
which is developed based on the sliding of a freestanding triboelectric‐layer between
two stationary electrodes on the same plane. With two electrodes alternatively
approached by the tribo‐charges on the sliding layer, electricity is effectively generated
due to electrostatic induction. A unique feature of this nanogenerator is that it can
operate in non‐contact sliding mode, which greatly increases the lifetime and the
efficiency of such devices. This is another important category of fixed electrode TEG
which known as freestanding-triboelectric-layer based generators (FTEG). [31-33]
One typical structure of FTEG is shown in the following figure. In FTEGs, the
triboelectric layer will alternatively approach both the two electrodes while the
triboelectric layer only approaches one electrode in single-electrode TEGs. Such kind
of FTEG is very easy to fabricate. [31] Two pieces of acrylic sheets were tailored as
the supporting substrates. Then a piece of FEP layer was attached to one acrylic sheet
as the freestanding layer. The metal pattern was deposited on the second acrylic layer
to form the two electrodes and the gap.
Figure 7: Freestanding Triboelectric Layer Mode

CHAPTER 3
3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Flow Chart
Figure 8: Flow Chart

17
3.2 Sample Selection
In this research, the selection of sample is very important as it will affect the
current output significantly. This research will be conducted by using six materials
which is three positive materials and three negative materials (Positive: Aluminium,
Nylon, Paper; Negative: Kapton, PVC, Polyethylene). Not all material can be used in
this experiment. Knowledge about positive and negative material in triboelectric series
be applied. Triboelectric Series will be the important reference during the material
selection. We will come up with nine different positive-negative material
combinations. Table 2 shows the list of material combinations.
Table 2: Material combinations
Aluminium Nylon Paper
Kapton -
Kapton Kapton - Nylon Kapton – Paper
Aluminium
PVC PVC – Aluminium PVC - Nylon PVC – Paper
Polyethylene - Polyethylene - Polyethylene -

Polyethylene
Aluminium Nylon Paper
18
3.3 Sample Preparation
The surface modification process should be done to analyse the effect of

surface roughness to the output current. Each material must have a different roughness.
Sandpaper with different grit size will be used to modify the roughness of the material.
Sandpaper with grit P240, P600, P1000 and P1200 will be used. The rubbing direction
of the sandpaper onto the material surface will also affect the surface contact so that it
should be fixed to only one particular direction. Each sample will be cut into the size
of the roller rod. The material that has been cut will undergo surface modification. All
materials should undergo this process and only then it will be placed onto subsequent
roller rod or triboelectric wheel.
The sample material that has been modified is characterised using LEXT 3D
Measuring Laser Microscope shown in Figure 9. The microscope will define the
surface roughness of the sample by using arithmetical mean height (Sa). The value of
Sa should be changing after the sample material undergoes surface modification either
greater or less than the original sample without surface modification.
Figure 9: The laser microscope is used to measure the surface roughness

19
The sanding process takes place for 1 minutes and the rubbing direction is
controlled to be at only one particular direction. The lay on the surface of the material
will be parallel to the rotation of the roller. Figure 10 and 11 shows the surface of the
PVC before and after surface modification respectively.
Figure 10: The smooth surface of PVC before undergoing surface modification
Figure 11: The rough surface of PVC after surface modification is done
20
3.4 Rolling TEG Prototype
After finish with the fabrication of the TEG, it should be placed onto suitable
platform. Wood block will be the best choice to become the platform for the prototype.
The use of this wooden block will rise the protype to a higher level from the ground
or floor so that it will be easier to replace the materials and also the DC motor Figure
12 and 13 show the concept prototype and actual protype of TEG accordingly. Figure
14 shows the TEG with DC motor connected to the shaft to drive the roller.
Figure 12: Concept Prototype of TEG
Figure 13: Actual Prototype of TEG

21
Figure 14: TEG Prototype with Connection Wires
3.5 Experimental Setup
Both positive triboelectric material and negative triboelectric materials will be

placed onto the surface of non-conductive rod which is called as triboelectric wheel.
Figure 15 shows the representation of each of the triboelectric wheel.
Figure 15: Rolling type TEG consisting of two triboelectric wheels and two
copper electrodes
22
Each cylindrical rod will be allowed to freely rotate about its central axis by
the support of ball bearing. Triboelectric material will be placed onto each surface of
cylindrical rod. Both of the rod will be referred as triboelectric wheel (TW), either
positive (PTW) or negative (NTW). The nature of the TW is depending on whether it
carries a positive or a negative electric charge as shown in Figure 15.
Basically, we already knew that the electron will flow throughout the external
circuit to balance the potential difference. The problem is we do not know which
direction the electrons are flowing so that the experimental setup of the rolling rod
TEG will be shown in Figure 16 below.
Figure 16: The experimental setup of the rolling rod TEG
In Figure 13(a) the two triboelectric wheels are represented as T(+) and T(-) The
two copper electrodes are represented by E(+) and E(-) . This is the initital setup that can
be seen during the off phase period of the device. In order to have flow of electron
from the device, the variable barrier voltage VB and the variable loading resistance RL
are connected in series with the device. This VB and RL will be connected to the
common connection or the ground G. This will enable them to be in electrical contact,
thus completing the circuit.
The probe of the oscilloscope should be connected appropriately according to

the type of measurement that is going to be done. Figure 17 shows the connection
23
circuit of the probe in order to measure voltage output across the Triboelectric Wheel.
The voltage drop across the resistor of 220Ω is measured to calculate the current output
of the TEG. The circuit connection is shown in Figure 18 where the probe is connected
parallel to the resistor.
Figure 17: The oscilloscope is connected dirrectly across the Triboelectric Wheel
Figure 18: The voltage drop across resistor of 220Ω is measured
Figure 19: Oscilloscope

24
A digital oscilloscope is a complex electronic device composed of various

software and electronic hardware modules that work together to capture, process,
display and store data that represents the signals of interest of an operator. Tektronix
DPO2002B Digital Phosphor Oscilloscope shown in Figure 19 is used to measure the
voltage output and also the voltage drop across the resistor.
3.6 Sample Material Used
Table 3 : Positive and Negative Material Used

Positive Material Negative Material
Aluminium Sheet Kapton Sheet
Nylon Sheet PVC Sheet
Paper Polyethylene sheet

25
Table 3 show the material that will be used in this experiment. These material
are chosen based on the Triboelectric Series. The are six materials chosen to be tested
as shown in Table 3.
3.7 Parameter in Rolling TEG
Nine combination of positive-negative material are created based on six

materials that are chosen. The material combination will be attached to the roller rods
with duck tape before carrying out the experiment. Then, different dc motor with
different speed (2000rpm, 300rpm and 6000rpm) will be used for every run of the
experiment. Finally, the last parameter of the experiment which is material surface
roughness will be tested. Table 4 shows what process the materials combinations
should undergo during the experiment. Each run will be 5 minutes of period.
Table 4 : Table of each combination and each speed that will tested.
Speed 2000 3000 6000

P P P P P P P P P P P P
2 6 1 1 2 6 1 1 2 6 1 1
Combination
Grit size 4 0 0 2 4 0 0 2 4 0 0 2
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
Nylon – PVC ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄
Aluminium - Kapton ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄
Nylon – Kapton ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄
Aluminium – PVC ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄
Kapton – Paper ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄
PVC – Paper ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄
Polyethylene – Paper ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄
Polyethylene – Aluminium ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄
Polyethylene - Nylon ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄
26
CHAPTER 4
4.0 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Introduction
The experiment is conducted by using the roller rod TEG in order to fulfill the
objectives of this research. The experiment are done by following the choosen
parameters which are roller rod speed and also the surface roughness of the material.
Before the experiment is done, the selection of material is significant to ensure each
combination of material inhibit triboelectric properties such as it can trasfer charge
when the friction occurs.
The experiment is conducted in closed room where the air conditioning system
is turned on. The temperature is not strictly controlled during the experiment as the
experiment does not include the temperature as one of the paramater to be analysed. It
is somehow important to make sure there is less effect from the surrounding area so
that the temperature is set to be in the range of 26⁰C to 28⁰C. The rotation of both roller
or Triboelectric Wheel (TW) causes the friction to occur introducing some heat energy
and the temperature increases.
The voltage output and also the current output is measured using oscilloscope
to ensure a set accurate data is collected. The current output produced by the TEG will
define the best combination of material. The best material combination is then undergo
surface modification by sanding process using four different grit size of sandpaper
which are P240, P600, P1000 and P1200.
27
4.2 Voltage Output VS Material Combination
The data is measured using oscilloscope instead of using multimeter to ensure

high accuracy to the collected data. Figure 20 shows the screen capture of the
oscilloscope when measuring the output voltage for Nylon-PVC combination under
rotation of 6000RPM wihtout any surface modification on both material.
Figure 20: The graph of voltage vs time for Nylon-PVC combination
The screen capture of the oscilloscope for other material combination under
various condition (roller speed and surface roughness) is shown in the Appendix. The
yellow line graph shows that the voltage fluctuates over the time. The graph of voltage
output is assumed to be periodical and the Root Mean Square (RMS) value of the
output volatge is calculated using the formula below.
1
𝑉𝑅𝑀𝑆 = × 𝑉𝑃 = 0.7071 × 𝑉𝑃 …………………………(1)
√2
1
𝑉𝑅𝑀𝑆 = × 𝑉𝑃−𝑃 = 0.3536 × 𝑉𝑃−𝑃 ……..…………….(2)
2 √2
1
𝑉𝑅𝑀𝑆 = × 𝑉𝑃−𝑃 = 0.3536 × 𝑉𝑃−𝑃 …………………..(3)
2 √2
All of these equations can be used to calculate the RMS value for the voltage
output but the data collected by the oscilloscope only provides peak to peak voltage so
28
that equation (2) will be used to calculate the voltage. Table 5 shows the raw data
measured by oscilloscope and the RMS value is calculated and recorded in Table 6.
The data is then transferred into chart shown in Figure 21 for the analysis purpose.
Table 5: The raw data of voltage output for different material combination
Peak to peak voltage (V)

Material Combination
2000 RPM 3000 RPM 6000 RPM
Nylon - PVC 11.6 21.6 28.8
Aluminium - Kapton 8.6 13.4 23.2
Nylon - Kapton 9 15 23.4
Aluminium - PVC 11 18.2 26.6
Kapton - Paper 8 13 22.8
PVC - Paper 10.6 18 25.8
Polyethylene - Paper 9.4 15.8 24.6
Polyethylene - Aluminium 9.2 15.4 23.8
Polyethylene - Nylon 10 17.2 24.8
Table 6: The RMS value of voltage output for different material combination
VRMS (V)
2000 RPM 3000 RPM 6000 RPM
Nylon - PVC 4.10 7.64 10.18
Nylon - Kapton 3.18 5.30 8.27
Aluminium - PVC 3.89 6.43 9.40
Kapton - Paper 2.83 4.60 8.06
PVC - Paper 3.75 6.36 9.12
Polyethylene - Nylon 3.54 6.08 8.77
29
Voltage against material combination

11 10.18
10 9.4 9.12
8.7 8.77
9 8.2 8.27 8.41
8.06
8 7.64
7 6.43 6.36
Voltage (V)
6.08
6 5.3 5.59 5.44
4.74 4.6
5 4.1 3.89 3.75
4 3.32 3.25 3.54
3.04 3.18
2.83
3
2
1
0
2000 RPM 3000 RPM 6000 RPM
Figure 21: voltage output against material combination
Based on the chart shown in Figure 21, the combination of Nylon-PVC

produces the highest voltage output. It produces 4.1V, 7.64V and 10.18V for the speed
of 2000RPM, 3000RPM and 6000RPM respectively. The combination of Nylon-PVC
creates the highest potential difference as the distance between the Nylon and PVC is
the furthest as referred to the Triboelectric Series shown in Figure 3.
The trend of voltage output is increasing when the roller speed is increased.
This phenomena is caused by the increasing rate of friction between the material. The
voltage output increases by 3.54V when the roller speed changes from 2000RPM to
3000RPM as referred to the combination of Nylon-PVC. The voltage output for the
speed of 6000RPM shows the increment of 2.54V as compared to the speed of
3000RPM. To see in detail on how the trend of voltage output react to the roller speed,
the graph in Figure 22 is illustrated below.
30
Voltage output against speed

12
10.18
10
7.64
Voltage output, V
6
4.1
4
0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000
Speed, RPM
Figure 22: The graph of voltage output against the roller speed for Nylon-PVC
The graph in Figure 22 shows that the voltage output increases when the roller
speed increases. The trend is not showing that the voltage output is proportional to the
roller speed. The graph can only tell us the increment but not the specific trend of it.
The black and red extended trendline are purposedly included in the graph to show the
estimated trend if the experiment is conducted by using roller speed of more than
6000RPM. The black trendline shows the possibility of the voltage to increase up to a
critical value and then it will stay unchanged after reaching the specific value.
Meanwhile, the red trendline shows that the voltage output increases up to a specific
value and then it will going down. The experiment should cover a wider range of roller
speed in order to analyse the specific trend of the increment.
31
4.3 Current Output VS Material Combination
The current output is calculated by using the Ohm’s Law where;
𝑉 = 𝐼𝑅……………………………………...(4)
𝐼 = 𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 /𝑅 ………………………………..(5)
The oscilloscope measures the voltage across the 220Ω resistor and the data is
recorded in Table 7. One of the screen capture of peak to peak voltage reading by the
oscilloscope is shown in Figure 23. The other screen captures are included in
Appendix.
Figure 23: The peak to peak voltage reading across the 220Ω resistor for Nylon-
PVC under rotation of 6000RPM.
The voltage fluctuates over the time so that the peak to peak voltage is measured by
the oscilloscope will be used to calculate the RMS value that is shown in Table 7. The
equation (5) is used to calculated the current output and the calculated data is shown
in Table 8.
32
Table 7: Peak to peak current across resistor of 220Ω
Peak to peak voltage (mV)

2000 RPM 3000 RPM 6000 RPM
Nylon - PVC 680.00 1600.00 3760.00
Nylon - Kapton 400.00 840.00 2160.00
Aluminium - PVC 640.00 1440.00 3360.00
Kapton - Paper 320.00 720.00 1680.00
PVC - Paper 600.00 1320.00 2800.00
Polyethylene - Nylon 520.00 1280.00 2560.00
Table 8: The current output for different material combination
VRMS (mV) Current (mA)

Material
2000 3000 6000 2000 3000 6000
Combination
RPM RPM RPM RPM RPM RPM
Nylon - PVC 240.42 565.69 1329.36 1.093 2.571 6.043
Aluminium - Kapton 127.28 282.84 622.25 0.579 1.286 2.828
Nylon - Kapton 141.42 296.98 763.68 0.643 1.350 3.471
Aluminium - PVC 226.27 509.12 1187.94 1.029 2.314 5.400
Kapton - Paper 113.14 254.56 593.97 0.514 1.157 2.700
PVC - Paper 212.13 466.69 989.95 0.964 2.121 4.500
Polyethylene - Paper 169.71 339.41 876.81 0.771 1.543 3.986
Polyethylene -
155.56 311.13 791.96 0.707 1.414 3.600
Aluminium
Polyethylene - Nylon 183.85 452.55 905.10 0.836 2.057 4.114
33
The graph of current output against material combination under different roller
speed is shown in Figure 24. The current output for material combination of Nylon-
PVC is the highest when it produces 1.093mÅ, 2.571mÅ and 6.043mÅ for the speed
of 2000RPM, 3000RPM and 6000RPM respectively.
6.4
6.2 6.04
6.0
5.8
5.6 5.40
5.4
5.2
5.0
4.8 4.50
4.6
4.4 4.11
4.2 3.99
4.0
Current output (mA)
3.8 3.60
3.6 3.47
3.4
3.2
3.0 2.83
2.70
2.8 2.57
2.6 2.31
2.4 2.12
2.2 2.06
2.0
1.8 1.54
1.6 1.35 1.41
1.4 1.29
1.09 1.16
1.2 1.03 0.96
1.0 0.77 0.84
0.64 0.71
0.8 0.58 0.51
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
2000 RPM 3000 RPM 6000 RPM
Figure 24: The current output produced by different material combination under
different speed.
Based on the chart in Figure 24, the combination of Nylon-PVC is the best
combination in terms of the current output produced. The voltage produced by this
material combination has been discussed in the early part of the chapter. It is clear that
this material combination does not only produce high potential difference but also
34
good to induce high current output. Combination of Kapton-Paper gives the lowest
current output because their position in the Triboelectric Series is the nearest as
compared to other material combination.
The production of current by the roller rod TEG is directly related to the
distance of the material in the Triboelectric Series. Again, Nylon and PVC are
separated the furthest in the series compared to other material combination. Nylon-
PVC has the highest tendency to produce more current it the rate of charge transfer is
high.
The use of different DC motor speed to drive the roller has a very significant
effect as the current output increases when the rotaitonal speed is increased. Take a
look at the current produce for Nylon-PVC combination where the current is 1.09mÅ,
2.57mÅ and 6.04mÅ when the speed is 2000RPM, 3000RPM and 6000RPM
respectively. The current increases by 1.48mÅ when the roller speed is increased from
2000RPM to 3000RPM. The speed is then doubled to 6000RPM and the current output
increase by 3.47mÅ. Interestingly the increase in the current output is about double
when the speed doubled. The graph in the Figure 25 illustrates the trend of the current
increment for the best material combination, Nylon-PVC.
7
6.04
6
Current output, mA
3 2.57
2
1.09
1
0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000
Roller speed, RPM
Figure 25: The current output of Nylon-PVC for different roller speed.
35
Figure 18 shows the current increases proportionally to the roller speed. This
is true for the roller speed ranging from 2000RPM until 6000RPM. This trend is
different as compared to the voltage output shown in Figure 22 when the rate of
increment or the slope is decreasing. Still, wider range of roller speed should be tested
to figure out accurate trend of the current output.
4.4 Current Output VS Surface Roughness
In this experiment, four different grit size of sandpaper (P240, P600, P1000
and P1200) are used to modify the surface roughness of the triboelectric material.
Surface modification is the act of modifying the surface of a material by bringing
physical, chemical or biological characteristics different from the ones originally
found on the surface of a material. For enhancing the mechanical retention between
two surfaces, one or both surfaces are normally modified to increase effective surface
area by a sandblasting using sandpaper. The objective of surface modification is to
study the effect of friction in terms of contact area to the current output. Hence, the
best material combination that produces the highest current output which is Nylon-
PVC will undergo surface modification.
LEXT 3D Measuring Laser Microscope is used to analyse the surface

roughness and the result is shown as follows;
a. Surface of PVC with no modification.
Figure 26: 2D view of the surface

36
Figure 27: Measured figures for different roughness parameters
b. Surface of PVC under surface modification with sandpaper of P1200.

37
c. Surface of PVC under surface modification with sandpaper of P1000.
d. Surface of PVC under surface modification with sandpaper of P600.

38
e. Surface of PVC under surface modification with sandpaper of P240.

39
f. Surface of Nylon with no modification.
g. Surface of Nylon under surface modification with sandpaper of P1200.

40
h. Surface of Nylon under surface modification with sandpaper of P1000.

41
i. Surface of Nylon under surface modification with sandpaper of P600.
j. Surface of Nylon under surface modification with sandpaper of P240.

42
Figure 26-45 show the effect of surface modification by using sandpaper of

different grit size. The value of Sa for Nylon and PVC is shown in Table 9 and Table
10 respectively.
Table 9: The Sa value for different surface roughness of PVC
Material PVC
No
Grit size P1200 P1000 P600 P240
modification
Sa , (μm) 0.242 0.499 0.731 0.917 1.469
Table 10: The Sa value for different surface roughness of Nylon
Material Nylon
No
Grit size P1200 P1000 P600 P240
modification
Sa , (μm) 1.173 0.703 0.731 1.304 1.644
Table 9 and 10 prove that the surface modification by using sandpaper has
changed the surface roughness of the material. The greater the grit size of sandpaper
used, the rougher the surface. The experiment is conducted by using the combination
of Nylon-PVC with different surface roughness and the data is recorded in Table 11.
Table 11: The current output produced when the surface of material is modified
Sandpaper grit size
Combination Measured value
P240 P600 P1000 P1200
Voltage Peak to peak 320.00 360.00 520.00 560.00
Nylon - PVC (mV) RMS 113.14 127.28 183.85 197.99
Current (mA) 0.51 0.58 0.84 0.90
43
1
0.9
0.9 0.84
0.8
0.7
0.58
Current (mA)
0.6 0.51
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
P240 P600 P1000 P1200
Sandpaper grit size
Figure 46: The effect of surface modification on the current output
Chart in Figure 46 shows that the current output increases when the sandpaper
grit size increases. The experiment is conducted with roller speed of 2000RPM. The
highest current (0.9 mÅ) is produced when the P1200 sandpaper is used to modify the
surface roughness. In other words, the finest surface will produce more current output
because the surface contact area is large. The surface contact area helps to enhance the
rate of charge transfer between the material that has different tribo polarity, in this case
the combination of Nylon and PVC.
44
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Conlusion
The experiment has been conducted using the fabricated TEG successfully.
The use of oscilloscope to measure the potential difference between the Triboelectric
Wheel (TW) is very handful as it capture the electrical signal accurately. The accuracy
of oscilloscope is much greater than the digital multimeter. Although the oscilloscope
does not measure the current directly from the TEG but the voltage drop across resistor
is used to calculate the current output by using Ohm’s Law.
Six combination of materials are tested with speed motor of 2000RPM,

3000RPM and 6000RPM. From the result obtained in this research, combination of
Nylon-PVC has produced the highest current output which is 6.043mÅ when the TEG
rotates at 6000RPM while combination of Kapton-Paper produces the lowest current
output of 2.7mÅ. This result is very related to the position of the material in the
Triboelectric Series. Nylon and PVC are separated the furthest in the series compared
to other material combination in this research. The further the distance in the series
means that the rate of charge transfer is higher. We cannot simply choose any materials
around us to be the candidates to be applied into Triboelectric Generator (TEG). The
basic knowledge about the Triboelectric Series will let us choose properly the potential
materials. It is true that almost all materials around us can have triboelectrification
effect when they get into contact to each other but we should bear in mind that the
research objectives is to produce an efficient TEG. If we simply select the materials
without considering the position of the materials in the Triboelectric Series, the current
output might be small. This small current output actually cannot compensate the
electrical energy used to power up the TEG. In other words, the sytem will become
less efficient.
45
Besides, the speed of the DC motor that drive the Triboelectric Wheel shows a
very signicant effect to the voltage and current output. The result shows that the current
output increases when the speed increases. For instance, the best material combination
which is Nylon-PVC produce the highest current output of 6.043mÅ at speed of
6000RPM compared to 1.093mÅ at speed of 2000RPM. Interestingly the current
output increased proportionally to the speed. This is proven when the current output
increase from 2.571mÅ to 6.043mÅ for the speed of 3000RPM and 6000RPM
respectively. The current output is about doubled when the speed of motor is doubled.
The last parameter studied in this research is the surface roughness of the
material. The best combination in this research which is Nylon-PVC is selected to
undergo surface modification process.The surface of the material has been modified
using sandpaper with different grit size and the arithmetical mean height (Sa) is
measured using laser microscope. Based on the result, the value of Sa decreases when
the sandpaper grit size increases. This shows that higher grit size sandpaper produces
smoother surface. The result also shows that the smooth surface can produce more
current output. For example, the material that has been modified with P1200 sandpaper
produce the highest current output of 0.9mÅ. Thus, the change in the surface roughness
of the material causes the change in the surface contact area whereby the rate of charge
transfer is higher when the surce contact area is higher.
46
5.2 Recommendation
The results from this research is not really good enough to be used
commercially. This is because, the current output produced by the rolling type TEG
fluctuates over the time during the experiment. The current output is in the range of
below than 10mÅ which is quite small to power up the electronic devices. An ordinary
LED lamp consumes forward current of 20mÅ so that this type of TEG used in this
research should undergo modification to improve its efficiency.
Firstly, the TEG should have a current storage unit such as capacitor in order
to store the current before releasing it at higher value. Capacitor is the best suggestion
to be used. This is because capacitor is a commonly used device to store electric charge
at low cost. Electric current is stored in capacitor and at certain time the current will
be released in a controlled amount to the electronic devices such as signboard lamp
and study lamp.
Then, the surface area of the material used in the TEG should be higher to
produce higher current. Actually, the related parameter that directly affects the current
output is not the surface area but the surface contact area but increasing the surface
area should cause the increase in surface contact area too. The roller rod used in the
TEG must have bigger diameter and longer to fix bigger surface area of the material.
This is because it will increase surface contact of both positive and negative material.
Another way to increase the surface contact area without changing the dimension of
the roller is by using advanced technology such as Focused Ion Beam machine to
modify the surface roughness in nanoscale. The efficiency of the TEG will increase as
it can produce high current output even by using small area. In other words, the power
outpur per unit area can be increased.
47
APPENDICES
Appendix A: Voltage output; Speed = 2000RPM, No surface modification
Peak to peak voltage for Nylon-PVC combination
Peak to peak voltage for Aluminium-Kapton combination
Peak to peak voltage for Nylon-Kapton combination

48
Peak to peak voltage for Aluminium-PVC combination
Peak to peak voltage for Kapton-Paper combination
Peak to peak voltage for PVC-Paper combination

49
Peak to peak voltage for Polyethylene-Paper combination
Peak to peak voltage for Polyethylene-Aluminium combination
Peak to peak voltage for Polyethylene-Nylon combination

50
Appendix B: Voltage output; Speed = 3000RPM, No surface modification

51

52

53
Appendix C: Voltage output; Speed = 6000RPM, No surface modification

54

55

56
Appendix D: Voltage across resistor ; Speed = 2000RPM, Resistance=220Ω, No

surface modification
Peak to peak voltage across 220Ω resistor for Nylon-PVC combination
Peak to peak voltage across 220Ω resistor for Aluminium-Kapton combination
Peak to peak voltage across 220Ω resistor for Nylon-Kapton combination

57
Peak to peak voltage across 220Ω resistor for Aluminium-PVC combination
Peak to peak voltage across 220Ω resistor for Kapton-Paper combination
Peak to peak voltage across 220Ω resistor for PVC-Paper combination

58
Peak to peak voltage across 220Ω resistor for Polyethylene-Paper combination
Peak to peak voltage across 220Ω resistor for Polyethylene-Aluminium combination
Peak to peak voltage across 220Ω resistor for Polyethylene-Nylon combination

59
Appendix E: Voltage across resistor ; Speed = 3000RPM, Resistance = 220Ω, No


60

61

62
Appendix F: Voltage across resistor ; Speed = 6000RPM, Resistance = 220Ω, No


63

64

65
Appendix G: Voltage output across resistor for Nylon-PVC combination ; Speed

= 2000RPM, Resistance = 220Ω, With surface modification
Voltage across resistor after the surface modification with sandpaper P1200
66
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ROTATIONAL FRICTION SURFACE ENERGY OF

MUHAMMAD AZAM BIN MOHD YAZID

Bachelor of Mechanical Precision Engineering

Faculty of Malaysia Japan Institute International Technology

Nowadays, people aware of the many brilliant idea to harvest energy

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

1.1 Research Background

Energy harvesting and conversion devices using nanotechnology have received

Figure 1: A summary on the progress made in the output power density of

The TEG has four fundamental operation modes:

Figure 2: The Four Fundamental Modes of TEG [17].

Figure 3: Triboelectric Series

A typical structure of a polymer based triboelectric generator (TEG) is schematically

Figure 4: Schematic illustration of the structure and working principle of the

1.2 Problem Statement

1.3 Research Motivation

With the growing requirement of electronics, it is of great importance to

1.4 Research Objectives

The objectives of the research are:

1.5 Research Scope

1.6 Significant of Research

TEG has been proven to be a powerful source of electrical energy to efficiently

1.7 Summary Work

Gantt Chart (Semester 1 and Semester 2)

Table 1: Work Plan Flow

2.0 LITERITURE REVIEW

2.1 Triboelectric Nanogenerators

Triboelectrification is an effect that exists widely in human life. It is one of the

2.2 Types of Operation TEG

2.2.1 Attached Electrode Vertical Contact-Separation Mode TEG

The working mechanism of the triboelectric generator can be described as the

Figure 4: Vertical contact-separation mode of TEG

We also have conductor-to-dielectric model. The fundamental of this model is

2.2.2 Sliding-Mode Attached Electrode TEG

Besides the contact-mode attached-electrode triboelectric generators that are

Figure 5: Linear Sliding Mode

2.2.3 Single Electrode Mode TEG

Figure 6: Single Electrode Mode

2.2.4 Freestanding Triboelectric-Layer Mode TEG

Mechanical energy harvesting from arbitrary moving objects such as humans

Figure 7: Freestanding Triboelectric Layer Mode

3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Flow Chart

Figure 8: Flow Chart

3.2 Sample Selection

Table 2: Material combinations

Aluminium Nylon Paper

PVC PVC – Aluminium PVC - Nylon PVC – Paper

Polyethylene - Polyethylene - Polyethylene -

3.3 Sample Preparation

The surface modification process should be done to analyse the effect of

Figure 9: The laser microscope is used to measure the surface roughness

3.4 Rolling TEG Prototype

Figure 12: Concept Prototype of TEG

Figure 13: Actual Prototype of TEG

Figure 14: TEG Prototype with Connection Wires

3.5 Experimental Setup

Both positive triboelectric material and negative triboelectric materials will be