Rotational contact triboelectric nanogenerator driven by water flows inspired by waterwheels and their applications for lead ion removal

In recent years, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) have made remarkable progress in water flow energy harvesting. In this study, a rotating contact triboelectric nanogenerator (RC-TENG) based on contact separation structure was designed inspired by the waterwheel, which increased the output voltage and current by series and parallel, collected the water flow energy of the pipeline, and integrated the power management circuit (PMM) to manage the output energy. The output performance of TENG equipment is affected by a variety of factors, such as the type of material, assembly structure, and contact frequency. During the test, the peak power density of the output of a single TENG cell can reach 157 mW/m 2 at a frequency of 1 Hz. At the same time, this paper tests various influencing factors such as different numbers of series connections, different units in parallel, and TENG layer spacing, and finally constructs RC-TENG with the best output state. In view of the excellent energy harvesting performance of RC-TENG, it is combined with a power management circuit (PMM) to build a highly efficient lead ion removal for Pb 2+. This work is of great significance for the triboelectric nanogenerator to collect pipeline water flow energy and promote the practical application of self-powered lead ion removal.