NANOGENERATORS IN SMART CITIES : A SURVEY

1 2
Rohini Mayakuntla , Nithya Shree M

1
 Correspondence : rohinimayakuntla@gmail.com ;
Abstract : Nanogenerator is a energy harvesting device which is used to generate the electricity from waste
mechanical energy. The purpose of the Nanogenerator is for the Nanocellulose for industrial use. The methods
for the Nanogenerators is Piezoelectric Nanogenerators , Triboelectric Nanogenerators . The results for the
methods chose as they are considered to be most efficient self-powered systems. The Nanogenerators have been
emerging its trends and there exists pros and cons in it when we undertake them . The objective is there is indeed
use of Nanogenerators to be inculcated in the smart cities in the Era of fifth generation.

Keywords : Nanogenerator , Piezoelectric Nanogenerator(PENG) , Triboelecric Nanogenerator(TENG)

1. INTRODUCTION

In this paper of review , brief on the necessity of Nanogenerator is highlighted as the

energy harvester and sensing device .Under this ,We Consider some of the methods such as
Piezoelectric Nanogenerator(PENG), Triboelectric Nanogenerator(TENG). As per the current trends, the
need of Nanogenerators is the purpose that is to be progressed.

As people are Ambitious and technology has been advancing in its way and vast of the
population has budged to the cities. There are some fitouts which cities are met with,
Researchers have come forward with the idea of the Nanogenerators . And the need of the
Nanogenerators are advisory for the chaos. Hence the same will be resembled in developing
the cities. The era of 5G is driven with many more opportunities and the digitilization will
be on the influenced side in the upcoming years. Say example, there is been autopilot cars
where we can see the scenario it drives by itself and online doctors where diseases are cured
by contacting the doctor from home are some of the things that are advanced when
compared with past .To have a greater look we can say that Nanogenerators are acting as a
energy harvesters and they do fit for the sensing devices . The self-powered systems-,this
can be justified with that they have the capability of converting various energies such as
vibration energy or the mechanical energy into the electrical energy, and they ae likely to be
made up of zinc oxide(Zno). We can highlight (PENG) as major example of self-powering
system. , here it is introduced for this specialization . This self-powered sensing devices are
utilitarian for the reachability to the underrated locations such as the forestry , thicker
areas ,underlined transmission line which increases the viability to have access to that areas
will be achieved by them .The energy harvester will be a milestone for the delivering the
new technology such as harvesting farms that can be of any of the energy farms.

Nanogenerators holds huge significance in the current trends and emerging technologies ,
they are to meant for the enlargement . Aim is to achieve the trend of nanogenerators in the
smartcities . That can be further taken and are to be included in the many sectors which will
be way more better than the current trend for the unsolved queries . we can say that
Nanogenerator device can be estimated as the self-powered system and the energy
harvester.

2. METHODS AND MATERIALS

The world had been advancing rapidly in its ways, and smart cities would be evolution for
this advancement .Smart cities would be the primary goal that is to be achieved so that we
would be strengthened by around 54% in terms of technology . The concept of the smart
cities was first proposed in the year in the back 1960’s and 1970’s and it was not into the use
from then , but the present improvement of the smart cities and upward thinking of the
people demands for the evolution of the smart cities . Under this we going to consider some
of the cases and the scenarios where the nanogenerators will come to the practical use and
their methods in the nanogenerators where it is more efficient than the usual methods
followed. The low frequency potential is said to be edge for the Nanogenerator . The
nanogenerator itself is diversified into methods (PENG AND TENG).

Nanogenerator as self-powered sensor and low-frequency harvester : [1,3,4]

Let us consider the situation in the cities . There will be water present in the cities and there
is requisite that the rain water need to be harvested so that it can be used for any other
purposes later on, hence we have been discerning the erection of dams and other possible
ways to do the harvesting ,but then we have a solution in the form of Nanogenerator is that
they have the ability to harvest these water at low frequency level in and around the cities .
These can be given as one of the method for Nanogenerator.

Fig 1.1 : schematic diagram represents how the self-powered sensors (TENG ) is involved while harvesting the
rain water. (reference from web)
Considering the case under we have several that we have different kinds of pollutions
encountered in the cities. There are major weather changes in the cities there will be
extremely small particles present in air which are not the droplets ,these methods are erased
with the some of the known techniques such as precipitation etc. In the nanogenerators we
have Triboelectric nanogenerator(TENG) which is a self-powered sensor can be worked
effectively and acts as the cleanser for these kind of weather conditions . The case of human
condition case can be served as another example that it is, TENG is also used for the
predicting the heart strokes through the use of these sensors .Piezoelectric nanogenerator
(PENG) are generally said to have a robust in nature and have deformation capacity , due to
its standards it is mostly used in fibre or fabric application . PENG’s are used in measuring
the weight of the vehicle and in monitoring the vehicle speed. The PENG ‘s are aligned with
the Zno and cd-Zno ,through which it got it nature of deformation . We can consider the tire
where the peng is used in its deformation. The fabricated PENG can generate up to 120
microwatt per centimeter cube when it got added on the tire for contact deformation. As
TENG ‘s , PENG’s are also used as self-powered sensors and they have got the name due to
they possess the almost characteristics that the TENG’s possess and hence they are
considered for all the purposes same as TENG’s does . An example can be given for the
PENG’s are, they are used for monitoring the pressure and detecting the speed.

Fig1.2 : representing the usage of the piezoelectric nanogenerator in measuring the speed of the
vehicle .

The TENG’s and PENG’s are signified for their pliability and their response for the harsh
environments , marked as one of the unique features . As the cardiac sensors , there are
voice user interfaces ,touch user interfaces , body motion tracking interfaces as a part of
TENG based sensors . The touch user interfaces are mostly noted in the smart homes
application where say they are used for the automations such as switching on / off the LED’s
timely whenever the person set foot in they will throw the output as required for the person
and the sense that it is received by the person. The voice based interfaces work as that they
will be converting the signals and propagated as required by the human, the body motion
tracking will be worked as the energy harvester. So this is how, the deeper concepts of the
nanogenerators and its methods are useful for the daily status of the human, and these
technologies have to be integrated in the cities for the smarter working of the cities.

3. RESULTS

The results would be there are faster technologies that the world is upgrading with as a part
of it nanogenerators would be an evolution in uplifting the technology supremacy .they
possess greater advantages in all aspects that is prescribed by the human to run their daily
life . Among which they have a greater methods for each of the chaos and there will be
legitimate solution each individually ,TENG’s possess many advantages which are core
shaped ball aligned with Zno they have the originality , simplicity and capacity of working
as the self-powered sensor and as energy harvester , likewise PENG’s are also ought to
possess the same advantages which are aligned with the cd - Zno but the use of both the
methods will be different .

To summarize the advantages, we have water harvesting usage and cardiac sensors will be
possessed by TENG’s and due to the working principle of the TENG is extremely flexible
they have the capacity as a water wave energy output producer say example oceans,
produce 2.64 kilowatt hours of wave water energy so this output is easily produced by using
TENG’s , hence they are used for the same to be done in the cities . Deformation is the major
advantage that is possessed by the PENG’s due to its nature of deformation , it possess
usages such as it is used in measuring the pressure and speed detector[3] . In the point of
urbanisation , there will be many issues that are to be looked into and as per the researchers
TENG ‘s and PENG’s are also serves as the communication unit , which it could relate with
voice based interfaces .There is been gradual advancement in the Nanogenerators in the past
6 years and among TENG’s have higher upgradement as per the research .We can find that
there are other technologies are such as radioactive technologies , but these mainly sharp on
the purposes such as resource control and base station grouping . Hence we could say that
there are many trumpcards that the development of Nanogenerators provides us .

4. DISCUSSIONS

According to the several surveys and researches done by the researchers on the topic of the
Nanogenerators . There are some discussions about the performance of the TENG when it is
related to the microstructure of the contact phase since it is aligned by the (Zno) .How to
overcome this or enhance the performance of the method had been an discussion . As a part
of it TENG should designed and fabricated in such a way that they are able to work for the
water wave energy output producer. NGs have been also used in harvesting this energy.

NGs have been also used in harvesting this energy. Here, we discuss wind-based energy
harvesting and its future impact on the smart cities, the usage of TENG’s are used in the
wind energy harvesting also . Human-machine interface research uses various techniques to
design and realize interfaces between users and machines, where machines are defined as
any mechanical or electrical devices that assist in human tasks. Such as application TENG-
enabled HMI applications including sound pickup, trail sensing, wireless remote controls,
and keyboards. Harvesting tire rotation energy is the best way to power a tire pressure
monitoring system (TPMS) , it is done by the PENG ‘s .These are having some of the cons
and pros such as Furthermore, conventional piezoelectric material like Pb[ZrxTi1x ]O3 is
non-renewable and toxic to human body, which will pollute water from inland to sea. Thus,
it is been a discussion by the researchers on environmentally friendly and even
biodegradable materials is urgently required for the development of NGs, especially in
implantable medical devices.

5. CONCLUSION

In the conclusion it is to be said that there are many advantages that methods and
nanogenerators possess, however there are some issues need to be cleared of or should think
for an alternative for the negative consequences and they are to be concluded with the
proper solution .The usage of the 5G in the smart cities is included such as the features such
as higher multi-gbps peak data speeds ,ultralow latency ,more reliability ,massive network
capacity, increased availability and more uniform user experience to more users. Higher
performance and improved efficiency empower new user experiences and connects new
industries .This launching of 5g will provides an excellent opportunity for the faster
development of smart cities . Nanogenerators as been widely demonstrated as sustainable
power sources and self powered active sensors .This also includes the use of the IOT
technology such as connected sensors , lights and meters to collect and analyse data. The
cities then use this data to improve infrastructure ,public utilities and services and more.
Hence the role of 5G and IOT together benefit us in achieving the goal of smart city. The
combined advantages of the 5g is used in the various public needs .It includes the
applications in the smart cities such as management, health care, transportation and energy
management with which we have 5G scenarios such as mobile broadband ,massive type
communications and ultrareliable and low latency communication. Moving on with the
practical use , we have development and deployment of new applications ranging from
monitoring air quality , energy use and traffic patterns to street lightning ,smart
parking ,crowd management and emergency responses . The most mentioned technologies
are radio access technology ,network slicing and edge computing . With the emerging trends
and technologies we are going to witness a smart city in the future .

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