A wave energy driven high-performance self-powered oil spill positioner

Abstract The oil spill positioner is capable of real-time monitoring oil films on the sea surface. However, the lack of high-performance power supply methods greatly restricts the application of oil spill positioner. In this research, we design a high-performance self-powered oil spill positioner based on a soft-contact-triboelectric-nanogenerator (SC-TENG). This device achieves soft-contact by attaching rabbit fur to the rotor, which can effectively reduce frictional resistance, quickly transfer charge to the electrode, and improve the durability of the parts. First, we calculate the highest occupied molecular orbital and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) molecules through first-principles simulations, and compared the ease of electron excitation between the two materials. The results show that the performance of SC-TENG with PVDF as dielectric material is significantly better than that of PTFE. At the same time, this phenomenon has been confirmed by experiments. On the basis of experimental and simulate research on two types of power management circuits, a bridge rectifier circuit with the function of converting alternating current to direct current is selected to realize the self-power supply of the oil spill positioner. Additionally, by optimizing the structure of the SC-TENG and employing a bridge rectifier circuit, the SC-TENG can achieve a maximum open-circuit voltage of 1400 V and a short-circuit current of 3.49 μ A, which are enough to light up 200 light-emitting diodes and power the oil spill positioner. Finally, we simulate the open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current of the SC-TENG on a six-degree-of-freedom platform and test its durability under real-world ocean wave conditions, all of which show excellent performance. This work develops an efficient wave energy conversion mechanism and successfully realizes the high-performance self-powering of the oil spill positioner, making oil spill monitoring more flexible and reliable.