A Rectification Free Self-Charging Supercapacitor Power Cell

The integration of an energy harvester and storage device in a single unit without any external circuit is crucial for reducing the energy loss and complexity of a self-charged power module. In this study, a self-charging supercapacitor power cell (SPC) is proposed, assembled with TENG as an energy harvester and a supercapacitor as an energy storage device, in a single unit. The electrical energy generated from TENG is stored in the supercapacitor without any rectifier circuit via a tribo-electromechanical mechanism. Since no external circuit is utilized for charging the supercapacitor, the energy loss and device complexity are significantly reduced. Furthermore, the TENG unit of the self-charging SPC can generate a power of 2.5 mW which can charge the SPC to a maximum voltage of 210 mV within 9 s. This research sheds light on the possibility of storing energy in a supercapacitor without the use of a power management circuit via TENG and contributes to the understanding of the energy conversion procedure in a self-charging SPC.