Along with bitterly cold temperatures, winter usually brings dry air and the occasional zap of static electricity. Those shocks might be annoying, but researchers are working to harness that otherwise wasted energy with triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) to power everyday devices.
Now, in ACS Omega, a team describes an easy way to manufacture these tiny generators out of materials as simple as double-sided, store-bought tape that pack in higher energy densities than previously reported versions.
TENGs can transform mechanical energy into electrical energy through the triboelectric effect, which is a form of static electricity. But instead of that static turning into a shock, these nanogenerators send it through a circuit to power a device, such as an LED.
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