TOCN/copper calcium titanate composite aerogel films as high-performance triboelectric materials for energy harvesting

The development of high-performance cellulose-based triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) has been a subject widely concerned by researchers. Here, we prepared a composite aerogel film based on TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofiber (TOCN) and copper calcium titanate (CaCu3Ti4O12, CCTO) nanoparticles. Under their comprehensive effects of the enhanced dielectric performance, the TOCN/CCTO-20 composite film with 20 % CCTO content based TENG device showed the best output performance of an open circuit voltage of 152 V, a short circuit current of 33.8 μA and a power density of 483 mW/m2, which were 3.37, 4.07 and 3.71 times higher than that of the pure TOCN based TENG device, respectively. In addition, effects of external force conditions, aerogel film size parameters and the agglomeration state of high filler content on the output performance were also studied. These results indicated that the TOCN/CCTO composite aerogel films can be used as efficient and low-cost cellulose-based triboelectric positive materials for energy harvesting.