Humidity‐Resistant Triboelectric Nanogenerator Based on a Swelling‐Resistant and Antiwear PAN/PVA‐CaCl2 Composite Film for Seawater Desalination

Abstract

AbstractAtmospheric moisture accelerates the triboelectric charge transport and dissipation in the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). However, the output of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)‐based humidity‐resistant TENG is still limited under high humidity and suffers from the swelling problem in practical application. In this paper, a swelling‐ and humidity‐resistant high‐performance TENG using a polyacrylonitrile/polyvinyl alcohol‐calcium chloride (PAN/PVA‐CaCl2) composite film (PPCa‐TENG) is designed for seawater desalination. The PAN/PVA‐CaCl2 composite films exhibit superior water uptake speed, swelling resistance, and mechanical and tribological properties compared with other prepared membranes at high relative humidity (RH). The maximum short‐circuit current (Isc) and output voltage (Vo) of the PPCa‐TENG can reach 52.04 µA and 941 V at 75% RH, respectively, with increasing the power of PVA‐based TENG by about 17.39 times. The Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) results suggest that the PAN/PVA‐CaCl2 composite film demonstrates a higher tribopositivity. Furthermore, the PPCa‐TENG is applied as an effective, economical power source for seawater desalination, with an energy consumption of only 0.19 kWh m−3. This number is remarkably lower than that of desalination powered by conventional direct‐current power supplies reported in previous work. This paper provides a feasible, effective method for the design of the TENG with high performance under high‐humidity conditions.