Waste Biomaterial–SnO Nanoparticles Composite Based Green Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Self-Powered Human Motion Monitoring

In this experimental study the green electrical energy generation performance of the fabricated triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is investigated using a biomaterial based composite. The composite is fabricated using tin oxide (II) (SnO) nanoparticles as fillers on a biomaterial egg shell membrane (ESM). ESM is a naturally available waste biomaterial and is used as a substrate for the growth of SnO nanoparticles using the chemical bath deposition method. SnO nanoparticles synthesized on ESM have a spherical morphology with an approximate particle size of 80–100 nm. The TENG active dielectric layers are fabricated using different combinations of materials with ESM/SnO composite as one layer and the other layers being the biomaterials onion tunic, garlic tunic, almond peel, bombax ceiba fibers, calotropis fibers, and inorganic material polytetrafluoroethylene. The TENG voltage output result of each combination of active layers is obtained, and it is observed that the synthesized composite material is electropositive in nature among all the tested materials. These results help us to extend the existing triboseries by locating the position of a synthesized biomaterial based composite material in comparison to other materials. The composite based material is observed to be more tribopositive in nature in comparison to its constituent materials because of a greater dipole generation. Real-life application is tested by powering green light emitting diodes by supplying current directly from the fabricated TENG, and a small wrist watch is ON using a capacitor-based circuit designed for this study. Various human activities such as jumping, running, and walking are also employed in this study for scavenging mechanical energy to electrical energy using the fabricated TENG.