Carbon nano thorn arrays based water/cold resisted nanogenerator for wind energy harvesting and speed sensing

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), coupling the contact electrification and electrostatic induction, has been proved to be a promising energy harvester due to its excellent reliability, considerable output power, high efficiency, and low cost. Herein, with the designed hydrophobic carbon material methyl-graphdiyne (M-GDY) based nano thorn arrays as TENG core element, we developed a novel high-performance self-powered wind speed sensor possessing remarkable water/cold resistance, which can stably run for a long time and be directly applied in the typical extreme environment. As the electrode composing uniformly distributed methyl groups in a two-dimensional plane, M-GDY can provide a convenient path for rapid charge transfer through interfaces. By in-situ growing M-GDY with nano thorn arrays structure directly on the surface of the copper foil to provide enhanced contact area and superhydrophobic properties, such M-GDY based TENG can be realized simultaneously and induce excellent performance with a stable response and real-time voltage feedback. Significantly, the superhydrophobic properties of that M-GDY-based TENG endow it with broad applicability in humid conditions. Besides, for the unique carbon-rich structure of the M-GDY array, the M-GDY-based TENG can be well applied with stable output performance under different temperatures ranging from −20 °C to 30 °C. The specially designed TENG with GDY-based material affords us a novel TENG core material and expands self-powered devices for a specific environment.