GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Under the provisions of the regulations for the degree

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

on Monday, March 5, 2018

4:00 PM

in Love 109

will be held the

DISSERTATION PROPOSAL DEFENSE

for

Changsheng Wu

"High Performance Triboelectric Nanogenerator and Its Applications"

Committee Members:

Prof. Zhong Lin Wang, Advisor, MSE

Prof. Meilin Liu, MSE

Prof. David L. McDowell , MSE

Prof. C. P. Wong, MSE

Prof. Younan Xia, BME

Abstract:

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), whose fundamental mechanism originates from Maxwell’s displacement current and change in surface polarization, is capable of transforming external mechanical stimuli to electrical signals. Since its first report in 2012, it has received enormous research efforts, resulting in successful demonstrations ranging from mechanical energy harvesting to self-powered active sensing. However, the practical application of this infant technology in energy harvesting is greatly hindered by its limited output power density due to the intrinsic high-voltage and low-current characteristics, while most sensing demonstrations stagnates at the proof-of-concept phase without a solid hardware-plus-software solution. 

The aim of my current research and proposed work is to overcome these obstacles: 1) to push the upper limit of TENG by investigating its fundamental performance-limiting factors; 2) to discover power-source applications of TENG which rely on high voltage only and pose little requirement on current; 3) to develop one-stop, ready-to-use active sensing applications based TENG.