ABSTRACT
The newly developed and promising energy harvester, nanogenerators (NGs), provides an excellent approach to convert mechanical energy into electricity. A nanogenerator has the potential of harvesting many kinds of mechanical energies such as vibration, rotation, wind, human motion and even water. Nanogenerators are promising nano-devices for the miniaturisation of power packages and self-powering of nanosystems that can be used in implantable bio-sensing, environmental monitoring and personal electronics. This chapter includes the classification of nanogenerators based on their working mechanisms: piezoelectric effect based piezoelectric nanogenerators, pyroelectric effect (thermal gradient generated electricity) based pyroelectric nanogenerators, triboelectrification and electrostatic induction based triboelectric nanogenerators. A possible route has also been demonstrated towards practical applications for powering electronic devices. This chapter represents a comprehensive review on the various energy harvesting sources and their applications. This chapter also describes the advantages of using carbonaceous materials as active electrodes as well as charge collectors by replacing metals. In addition, various reports on the nanogenerators with emerging technologies are introduced to enable self-powered electronic devices.
