Natural Rubber-TiO Nanocomposite Film for Triboelectric Nanogenerator Application.

In this research, natural rubber (NR)-TiO nanocomposites were developed for triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) application to harvest mechanical energy into electrical energy. Rutile TiO nanoparticles were used as fillers in NR material to improve dielectric properties so as to enhance the energy conversion performance of the NR composite TENG. The effect of filler concentration on TENG performance of the NR-TiO composites was investigated. In addition, ball-milling method was employed to reduce the agglomeration of TiO nanoparticles in order to improve their dispersion in the NR film. It was found that the TENG performance was significantly enhanced due to the increased dielectric constant of the NR-TiO composite films fabricated from the ball-milled TiO. The TENG, fabricated from the NR-TiO composite using 24 h ball-milled TiO at 0.5%wt, delivered the highest power density of 237 mW/m, which was almost four times higher than that of pristine NR TENG. Furthermore, the applications of the fabricated NR-TiO TENG as a power source to operate portable electronics devices were also demonstrated.