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Water wave energy is regarded to be a promising renewable energy source to relieve the pressure of fossil energy shortage and achieve a sustainable future. A cylindrical wave‐driven linkage mechanism triboelectric nanogenerator (WLM‐TENG) with unidirectional rotation is designed and fabricated to effectively harvest water wave energy. The enormous force generated by water waves, which is up to 424.3 N m−2, is used to drive the TENG through its simple and smart mechanical structure. This force allows the rotor to overcome the large resistance caused by the full contact between rabbit furs and electrodes. The output current can reach about 30 µA and the output power arrives at 50 mW. Moreover, self‐powered applications powered by the WLM‐TENG are successfully demonstrated, including indicating light‐emitting diodes (LEDs), multifunctional barometer, portable anemometer, and multifunctional water quality detection pen. This work renders an effective approach to harness the enormous force generated by the water waves, enhancing the water wave energy harvesting ability of the TENG, toward practical applications of marine environment monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing hydrogen energy produced by water electrolysis is conducive to carbon neutrality from a technological point of view. However, this perspective is restrained by the high electricity cost in commercial development. Powering electrochemical reactions by renewable electricity converted from distributed mechanical energy can lead to commercial electric energy saving and cost reduction. In this work, a self‐powered electrochemical system (SPECS) is proposed for the conversion from blue energy of ocean waves to green energy via hydrogen fuel. This system consists of triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) devices and an electrolyzer, where the TENG devices serve as ocean wave energy harvesters for electricity generation, while the seawater‐containing electrolyzer is employed for hydrogen generation. After power management on the output of the TENGs and electrochemical reaction optimization, the system can generate hydrogen at a rate of 814.8 µL m‐2 d‐1 and a Faraday efficiency of 69.1% under ideal operation conditions, demonstrating the practical potential of the constructed system toward carbon neutralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing carbon emissions to realize carbon neutrality is crucial to the environmental protection, and developing clean and renewable energy sources is an effective means to achieve this goal. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) provide a promising energy technology for converting the abundant renewable ocean wave energy on the earth surface. In this work, a segmented swing‐structured fur‐based TENG (SSF‐TENG) is designed and fabricated to harvest low frequency water wave energy. The introduction of soft and dense rabbit furs reduces the frictional resistance and material wear, and the design and optimization of segmented structures further enhance the output performance of TENG. The use of ultra‐lubricated bearings makes the SSF‐TENG achieve an extended period of energy harvesting of more than 5 min after one triggering, with a total energy conversion efficiency of up to 23.6%. Under the real water wave triggering, the SSF‐TENG can deliver a maximum peak power of 6.2 mW and an average power of 0.74 mW. Furthermore, through effective water wave energy harvesting by the SSF‐TENG or array, self‐powered marine environmental applications are successfully demonstrated, which establishes a solid foundation for large‐scale blue energy harvesting and realization of smart oceans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ocean waves are considered to be one of the most promising renewable energy sources, and harvesting such energy via triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) is an effective strategy toward large‐scale blue energy. However, most previous optimization schemes of TENG cannot meet the demands of practical applications. In this work, a new charge excitation circuit (CEC) with advantages of integration, high efficiency, and minimum impedance is developed specially for TENGs to harvest water wave energy. The TENG with the CEC exhibits significantly improved output performance, with a maximum power of 25.8 mW and power density of 49.3 W m−3, and a 208 times enhanced current of 25.1 mA is achieved. Furthermore, a scheme of integrating TENG network and CECs is proposed for realizing large‐scale wave energy harvesting. The charge excitation TENG network is demonstrated to successfully power a digital thermometer and a wireless communication system with mobile phone through transmitting radio frequency (RF) signals for remote environmental monitoring. This study not only offers a strategy to greatly enhance the output performance of TENG networks in water wave energy harvesting, but also provides useful guidance for constructing maritime communication platform based on blue energy toward a maritime internet of things system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ocean wave energy is a promising renewable energy source, but harvesting such irregular, "random," and mostly ultra‐low frequency energies is rather challenging due to technological limitations. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) provide a potential efficient technology for scavenging ocean wave energy. Here, a robust swing‐structured triboelectric nanogenerator (SS‐TENG) with high energy conversion efficiency for ultra‐low frequency water wave energy harvesting is reported. The swing structure inside the cylindrical TENG greatly elongates its operation time, accompanied with multiplied output frequency. The design of the air gap and flexible dielectric brushes enable mininized frictional resistance and sustainable triboelectric charges, leading to enhanced robustness and durability. The TENG performance is controlled by external triggering conditions, with a long swing time of 88 s and a high energy conversion efficiency, as well as undiminished performance after continuous triggering for 4 00 000 cycles. Furthermore, the SS‐TENG is demonstrated to effectively harvest water wave energy. Portable electronic devices are successfully powered for self‐powered sensing and environment monitoring. Due to the excellent performance of the distinctive mechanism and structure, the SS‐TENG in this work provides a good candidate for harvesting blue energy on a large scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ocean waves are promising green sources for energy exploitation, but harvesting such energy is quite challenging due to the apparent drawbacks of ultra-low vibration frequency and low efficiency. Here, a hybrid nanogenerator containing soft-contact cylindrical triboelectric nanogenerator and electromagnetic generator with swing structure was designed for ultra-low frequency wave energy converting. Brushes made of flexible rabbit hairs were introduced to separate stator-rotor pairs, with the function of charge pumping onto dielectric surface, which can reduce the operation resistance and improve the device durability. Based on the swing motion of rotor, over 60 current pulses can be generated within 15 s from either module by one external triggering, implying the output frequency multiplication and operation time extension. The optimized hybrid nanogenerator exhibits the best output response at 0.1 Hz of water wave agitation, delivering a peak power density of 10.16 W·m−3 and an average power density of 0.23 W·m−3. Furthermore, self-powered temperature mapping and wireless transmitting were successfully realized by a hybrid nanogenerator array to demonstrate its capability in collecting ultra-low frequency water wave energy. The distinctive structure and operation mechanism prompt the proposed hybrid nanogenerator to be a good candidate for large-scale blue energy harvesting. ga1 • Using flexible rabbit hair brushes to reduce the operation resistance and improve tribo-charge density in swing-based TENG. • Hybridizing an optimized EMG to further enhance the output performance and water wave energy harvesting efficiency. • The designed hybrid nanogenerator for blue energy harvesting responses best at the triggering wave frequency of 0.1 Hz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]