In this study, we present triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) for vibrational energy harvesting in oil pipelines. The generators are designed to replenish the batteries of leak detection sensor, thereby increasing their lifespan and reducing the need for maintenance. The TENGs were designed to harvest energy from a 12-inch diameter pipeline, vibrating with at 32 Hz. Three alternative materials were used for the upper plate of a 4 × 4 cm TENG, namely Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), unstructured polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and structured PDMS. Tests revealed that the unstructured PDMS TENG outperformed the PTFE TENG and generated 47.6 μW of power. Structuring the PDMS by patterning open channels on half of the surface increased the output power to 200.0 μW. When the spring constant of the structured PDMS TENG was optimized, the output power was further increased to 297.7 μW. These results demonstrate that structured PDMS shows promise in triboelectric energy harvesting, specifically because it can be surface-modified using inexpensive techniques that do not require a clean room.

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