Self-powered cleaning of air pollution by wind driven triboelectric nanogenerator

Air pollution is one of the major challenges faced by the human kind, but cleaning of air is a horrendous task and hugely expensive, because of its large scope and the cost of energy. Up to now, all of the air cleaning systems are generally driven by external power, making it rather expensive and infeasible. Here, we introduce the first self-powered air cleaning system focusing on sulfur dioxide (SO2) and dust removal as driven by the electricity generated by natural wind, with the use of rotating triboelectric nanogenerator (R-TENG). Distinguished from traditional approach of electrostatic precipitation by applying a voltage of thousand volt, our technology takes the advantages of high output voltage of R-TENG, typically in the order of a few hundreds volt. This self-powered air cleaning system not only adsorbs dust particles in air, but also oxidizes SO2 without producing byproducts. Therefore, it could be potential for easing the haze-fog situation, which is one of the most important directions in self-powered electrochemistry. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.