Fe2O3 magnetic particles derived triboelectric-electromagnetic hybrid generator for zero-power consuming seismic detection

doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.103926

Nano Energy

Volume 64, October 2019, 103926

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.103926 Get rights and content

Highlights

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A zero power consuming seismic vibration detector had been reported for the first time using TENG and EMG hybrid generator.
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The hybrid energy harvester generates electrical signal from TENG and EMG independently, upon the same particle motions.
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The device generates a maximum rectified output of 3 V/16 μA under hybrid combination upon vertical vibration.
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The intensity of seismic vibration enables the device to send the trigger signal to Arduino board and drives LED and buzzer.

Abstract

A type of hybrid energy harvester made of magnetic particles (MP-HG) which operates on both triboelectric and electromagnetic induction had been fabricated and reported. A triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and an electromagnetic generator (EMG) collectively generate electrical energy upon the same vibration motion of particles under both vertical and lateral vibrating directions. The electrostatic induction between the polymer and the particles enables the generation of the triboelectric component, and at the same time, the movement of particles through the coil activates the electromagnetic component upon the same particles motion. The device generates a maximum rectified output of ~3 V/16 μA under hybrid combination upon vertical vibration. The TENG component generates the maximum rectified output of ~2.2 V/300 nA with an instantaneous power density of ≈0.4 mW/m² under a load resistance of 300 MΩ. The device is capable of generating electrical signals upon the vibrations produced from day-to-day electrical components such as compressor motor and speaker. Finally, MP-HG device was used to demonstrate the real-time application of zero power consuming/self-powered seismic detectors. Upon the vibration, the device can send the trigger signal to the Arduino board for driving the LED and buzzer. This type of devices can be used to alert/warn people from natural calamities like an earthquake which can cause severe causalities to the people and their belongings.

Graphical abstract

Elucidating the magnetic particles based hybrid generator composed of TENG and EMG components that is used as an energy harvesting source as well as an active zero power consuming or self-powered sensor to detect the seismic vibrations and alert the surroundings via LED glow and alarming.

Introduction

The increase in population density becomes a threat to human society under natural and human-made seismic events. There have been many occurrences of seismic events in the past two decade leads to high causalities to humans as well as industries. World health organization (WHO) had reported that high occupancy, dense building concentration, lack of public awareness on earthquake risks, and absence of warning systems are the main factors of vulnerability on the seismic events. The epicenter of the 2004 deadliest earthquake at Sumatra (Indonesia) and the impact were felt in 14 countries at various magnitudes analyzed by the national science foundation (NSF) in 2005. The NSF stated that many states do not have vibration alert systems or earthquake or tsunami warning systems. There are even minor earthquakes occurring every day at various places in the world which cannot be predicted [1,2]. Other than earthquakes, there are human-made seismic events that cause heavy vibrations such as nuclear explosive tests, industries, drilling on the ground, making an impact which can threaten human society. Concerning the safety of the society, a zero power consuming warning system with good accuracy and uninterrupted operating capability is highly desired.

However, the existing seismic vibration sensing device uses an accelerometer which requires an external power supply to drive, and most of the devices use batteries as we know that batteries are not environmentally friendly and having few drawbacks such as large packaging size and risk of environmental pollution. Also, accelerometers have various disadvantages such as fixed sensitivity, prone to temperature, the high impedance, which eventually makes the accelerometers more vulnerable to noise, requires more maintenance and operational expertise is needed. The existing seismic detector requires uninterrupted electric power and requires intense periodical maintenance for its safety. To work with this type of system, a highly skilled operator is required to handle. Other than the hardware issues, there are several other issues regarding the data collection, such as the data is expensive to acquire, and the logistics of the data acquisition are more intense. The data reduction and processing can be time-consuming, and it requires sophisticated computer hardware and expertise to analyze. This clearly shows that the detection system works solely upon the presence of an external power source, and the analysis will take an expensive process. Therefore, it is proved that the requirement of an active system which does not rely on battery and provides continuous operation all over the time is highly necessary. This could be able to replace the accelerometer with an active detector, i.e., Nanogenerator [3,4] which senses the seismic vibration and triggers the alarming system.

The rapid advancement in the field of nanogenerators as a self-powered sensors [5] i.e. physical sensors [6] (pressure [7,8], acoustic [9], flexion [10], force [11,12]), optical [13] (photodetectors [14], switches [15]), chemical/biological [16] (glucose [17], pH [18], gas [19], biomarkers [20,21]) and its basic prototypes were extensively investigated. Here the triboelectric (TENG) [22,23], piezoelectric (PENG) nanogenerators and hybrid generators [24] (such as TENG and electromagnetic generator (EMG) [25]) were studied based on the nanostructures, device designs and output performance wise. Among that the hybrid generator made of TENG (voltage source, low operating frequency) and EMG (current source, high frequency) had attracted considerable interest due to easy construction, enabling TENG component in EMG structure itself (reducing device area), and extending the operating bandwidth of device with same mechanical stimuli. There are a lot of reports which successfully demonstrates hybrid nanogenerators as a mechanical energy harvester in low-frequency and small amplitudes [26], as well as for various self powered sensing applications such as knee rehabilitation assessment [27], pinwheel type wind energy harvesting [28], self-powered biomechanical energy harvester [29], water wave energy harvesting [30], portable power banks [31], traffic monitoring [32], security systems [33], and vibrational energy harvesting [34]. However using the individual commercial magnetic parts (spherical beads, bar and horseshoe magnets) and multiple triboelectric layers (positive, negative) and additional packaging layers increases the weight of the hybrid device creating the harsh magnetic movements (high wear/tear on device components) which eventually reduces the overall life span of hybrid generator. Moreover using rigid magnetic bars in hybrid generator restricts the applicability in the field of micro/nanosensing levels in various industries, even though it produces the high instantaneous power density [35]. Minimizing the active layers or components in the hybrid device structure is still the greatest challenge in the field of the mechanically driven energy harvester. Also, the performance of nanogenerator affects drastically due to the temperature effects. This part is still challenging towards its commercialization [36].

To overcome the above issues, lower weight, reduced device layers based magnetic nanoparticle derived cylindrical hybrid generator (MP-HG) with full packed structure is proposed. Here, the magnetic particles act as a source for creating the magnetic flux in EMG, as well as develops the contact electrification (as a positive layer) in TENG during the simultaneous mechanical motions. The detailed electrical output responses of TENG, EMG, and MP-HG measured by the vertical and lateral mechanical motions. Also investigated the filling ratio of magnetic particles (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50%) in the cylindrical hybrid device (length (l) = 50 mm and diameter (φ) = 20 mm) structure and tested the output behavior in various humidity conditions (10–90 %RH). The 40% filling ratio of MP-HG generates (≈3 V, 16 μA) and instantaneous power density are (0.4 mW/m²) upon the vertical mechanical motion. Overall the weight of MP-HG device reduced and can also be protected from the humidity issues, which the conventional hybrid generator lags. Further, a real-time zero power consuming seismic detection was demonstrated using the MP-HG device placed on the compressor motor and audio speakers. The alarming unit was connected to an Arduino circuit which was powered using a solar cell. This arrangement made the entire unit as a self-powered system replacing the external battery source. The proposed system would be highly useful in places which are prone to natural calamities, high occupancy regions, a highly industrialized area where man-made seismic events can occur. The projected report paves the way for self-powered automated surveillance technologies.

Section snippets

Experimental details

The Iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) particles were synthesized by a simple co-precipitation method with the precursor solution as iron chloride hexahydrate (FeCl₃. 6H₂O) and ammonia solution (NH₄OH) as a precipitating agent. FeCl₃. 6H₂O was dissolved in 100 ml deionized water using magnetic stirring for 30 min at 80 °C. Similarly, 50 mL aqueous solution of NH₄OH was added dropwise to the precursor solution under a pH value of 11. The mixture was stirred continuously for 3 h, and the precipitations were

Characterization

Various sophisticated characterization techniques were employed to characterize as prepared particles. The crystalline phase of the particles were characterized using a X-Ray Diffractometer system (XRD) at Cu-Kα radiation (λ = 1.5418 Å) at Korea Basic Science Research Centre (KBSI) Daegu Centre, Raman spectroscopy analysis were performed using a LabRam Raman spectrometer (Horiba Jobin-Yvon, France), X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS, ESCA-2000, VG Microtech Ltd.), at KBSI, Busan Centre. The

MP-HG device fabrication and electrical measurement

A cylindrical structure (50 mm × 20 mm) was made of PET used as a housing material for the MP-HG device. A KAPTON film was cut as per the dimension of the PET cylinder and attached with Al electrodes on the back side. The KAPTON film is then rolled and placed inside the cylinder, and two Cu wires were connected to the Al electrodes to form a free-standing TENG. The cylinder was then filled with Fe₂O₃ particles having the magnetic field strength with a remnant magnetization of 7 emu/g and

Results and discussion

The Phase and crystal structure of the synthesized Fe₂O₃ particles were analyzed by XRD technique, which is shown in Fig. 1a. The peaks are well matched with the JCPDS card no. 85–0987. The particle exhibits high crystallinity without any impurities and having an expected rhombohedral (hexagonal) crystal structure. The planes (012), (104), (110), (113), (024), (116) and (018) appeared at the 2θ range 24.16°, 33.12°, 35.63°, 40.64°, 49.47°, 54.08° and 57.42° corresponds to pure iron oxide

Conclusions

In summary, for the first time, a zero power consuming/self-powered seismic detector using magnetic nanoparticle derived hybrid generator was designed, fabricated, and demonstrated successfully. The MP-HG device generates electrical energy from external vibrations under both lateral and vertical directions. The electrical analysis has been studied in detail on EMG, TENG, and hybrid configurations under vertical and lateral motions. The device undergoes various tests such as humidity analysis,

Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (2018R1A4A1025998, 2019R1A2C3009747). The authors thank Mr. Kim Woo Joong for his kind help in coil winding.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Mr. Venkateswaran Vivekananthan is currently a Ph.D. research scholar in Nanomaterials and Systems Laboratory, Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Jeju National University, South Korea. He received his M. Tech degree in Nanoscience & Technology (2013–2015) and B.E degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (2010–2013) from Anna University, Chennai, India. He worked as a Project Associate in Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, India from 2015 to 2016. His research focuses primarily

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Full paperFe2O3 magnetic particles derived triboelectric-electromagnetic hybrid generator for zero-power consuming seismic detection

Highlights

Abstract

Graphical abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Experimental details

Characterization

MP-HG device fabrication and electrical measurement

Results and discussion

Conclusions

Acknowledgment

Conflicts of interest

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Fe₂O₃ magnetic particles derived triboelectric-electromagnetic hybrid generator for zero-power consuming seismic detection