Economical 550 V energy harvesting from plastic and electronic waste using human motions

Abstract

Waste management of plastic and electronic artefacts is a very tedious task and requires a great deal of expense. The pressing threat to the environment due to excessive plastic use and uncategorized electronic waste management demands versatile strategies to mitigate the mentioned issues. Herein, we have showcased a very economical and straightforward approach to utilize plastic and electronic waste for designing a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recovered from used Kapton tape and, printing paper were utilized as triboelectric layers. More importantly, for the fabrication of the electrode layers, sophisticated and expansive techniques were replaced by a simple sacrificial electrodeposition of copper. Discarded electric wires from damaged UPS batteries were used as the source of copper. The fabricated TENG delivered excellent electric output with a maximum open circuit voltage of ∼552 V, a short circuit current of 18.8 μA and a high-power density of 7.68 W m⁻² under contact-separation triggered by human hand tapping. Additionally, the device exhibited a high open-circuit voltage of 615 V under vertical contact-separation driven by a custom-built linear motor, which is approximately 2 and 4 times greater than that of the TENG devices fabricated with Cu-tape and carbon electrodes, respectively. A vast number of practical demonstrations include the successful lighting of 472 LEDs connected in series, storing the charges in commercial capacitors, and powering a digital calculator. Furthermore, we demonstrated the potential application of e-Cu@WPP-TENG to power LED panels for advertisement boards, logos, nameplates, and similar displays in hotels, restaurants, buildings, laboratories, and homes. We believe that this work stresses the importance of implementing economically viable strategies for utilizing plastic and electronic waste to harvest valuable energy.