Experimental Study of Triboelectric Energy Harvesting Through Cyclic Static and Dynamic Contacts

Today, electricity production is a global issue at different scales, from limited production to mass production. In this context, we tried to harvest triboelectric energy through static and dynamic contacts using different pairs of materials. The static contact is characterized as snapping (discontinuous), while the dynamic contact is characterized as sliding (continuous). Three materials are retained to carry out the experimental tests: Mica, PTFE, and PET. The Mica charges positively while the PTFE and the PET charge negatively, to give two material pairs: Mica/PTFE and Mica/PET. The voltage produced by the material pairs is measured for different contact frequencies, at the static and the dynamic modes. The obtained results allow to conclude on the retained materials, the tested modes, and the used contact frequencies. The results show that PET is more productive than PTFE in both modes, the static mode produces higher voltage than the dynamic mode, and high contact frequencies are favorable in the static mode but unfavorable in the dynamic mode. The obtained results are promising in triboelectric energy harvesting for batteryless applications.