Surface Area Enhanced Nylon-6,6 Nanofiber Engineered Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Self-Powered Seat Monitoring Applications

High-performance triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG), generally comprised of either a pair of surface-functionalized or dielectric modulated composite frictional layers, are technically unreliable from a commercial perspective, because of the complex fabrication procedures and configurations. This work projects a surface area enforced electrospun Nylon-6,6-based TENG as the vibrational energy scavenging and seat occupation detection system. The devised TENG can derive an output response of more than 300 μA of short circuit current, 350 V of open circuit voltage, and a power density of 550 mW m^-2, which is the highest compared to previously reported Nylon-based dielectric-metal contact separation-based TENGs. The seat occupation sensing was successfully evaluated during a test drive on the TENG fitted vehicle. The charging up of a 1 μF capacitor to ∼30 V in 30 s marks the potential of Nylon-6,6 as a promising material for many applications, including smart transit.