Energy Harvesting
One appealing route towards future power suppliers beyond plugging all devices into the grid is the development of "self-powering" or "self-charging" electronics, which are able to self-charge or self-power the electronics from renewable resources without any external power supplies. This requires to be independent, sustainable, continuous operation, and maintenance-free. Among the variety of renewable energy resources, we’ve focused on mechanical energy because mechanical energy is the ubiquitous source that can always be reusable in our surroundings. It can be a flipped leaf in the tree, flowing water, wind, or human motion. In order to harvest mechanical energy, we have developed state-of-the-art nanogenerators, which can convert from mechanical energy to electrical energy using piezoelectricity and triboelectrification, based on organic and inorganic materials [1-4]. Recently, there have been a lot of demands for a new class of materials for nanogenerators, which would drive great improvement in the performance of nanogenerators. Despite progress, there are still some challenges that need to be addressed in order to smoothly transition from laboratory experiments to industrial applications. The proposed research has centered on: (1) elucidating the fundamental of charge formation in flexible devices [5,6], (2) addressing wear and tear issues [7], (3) figuring out humidity-sensitive issues, and (4) tackling the power mismatch issues.
[1] Dong-Myeong. Shin, H. J. Han, W.-G. Kim, E. Kim, C. Kim, S. W. Hong, H. K. Kim, J.-W. Oh, Y.-H. Hwang, Energy & Environmental Science (2015) 8, 3198-3203.
[2] Dong-Myeong. Shin, E. L. Tsege, S. H. Kang, W. Seung, S.-W. Kim, H. K. Kim, S. W. Hong, Y.-H. Hwang, Nano Energy (2015) 12, 268-277.
[3] H. Phan, Dong-Myeong. Shin, S. H. Jeon, T. Y. Kang, G. H. Kim, H. K. Kim, K. Kim, Y.-H. Hwang, S. W. Hong, Nano Energy (2017) 33, 476-484.
[4] T. Kim, S. Jeon, S. Lone, S. J. Doh, Dong-Myeong. Shin, H. K. Kim, Y.-H. Hwang, S. W. Hong, Nano Energy (2018) 54, 209-217.
[5] Y. Yan, W.-G. Kim, Xiaoting Ma, T. Tegafaw, T. M. Nguyen, J.-M. Lee, E.-J. Choi, H. Ahn, S.-H. Ha, K. Kim, J.-M. Kim, H. K. Kim, J.-W. Oh, Dong-Myeong. Shin*, Y.-H. Hwang*, Nano Energy (2021) 81, 105607.
[6] Y. Yan†, Xiaoting Ma†, T. M. Nguyen, S.-H. Ha, H. Ahn, D. Aben, K. Kim, J.-M. Kim, J.-W. Oh, Dong-Myeong Shin*, Y.-H. Hwang*, Nano Energy (2022) 104, 107909.
[7] J. Jeong, S. Jeon, Xiaoting Ma, Y. W. Kwon, Dong-Myeong. Shin*, S. W. Hong*, Advanced Materials (2021) 33, 2102530.