Design, modeling and experimental validation of a low-frequency cantilever triboelectric energy harvester

In this paper, a novel cantilever triboelectric energy harvester (TEH) working on the contact-separation mode is proposed for low-frequency vibration energy harvesting. An electro-mechanical model of TEH with non-parallel contact surfaces is derived by evaluating the total electrical energy between two surfaces. One merit of the proposed harvester is its simple design for easy implementation. The performance of TEH is investigated theoretically and experimentally, and the results show that it can harvest energy from broadband vibration sources. A peak output voltage of 25 V is achieved from the harvester under a base acceleration of 0.5 g with excitation frequency of 8 Hz. Good agreement is observed between the experimental results and analytical predictions. The performance of TEH can be improved by adjusting the gap distance between the top plate and the beam. The proposed triboelectric harvester is shown to be cost-effective to scavenge the low-frequency vibration energy from the ambient environment.