Experimental study of resistive load for impedance matching of triboelectric energy harvester fabricated with patterned polydimethylsiloxane polymer layer

Abstract

Impedance matching of the power source with the external load is one of the imperative parameters of any electronic system for the optimized power transfer from the power source to the load. Mismatch in impedance of power source and the external load may cause a drastic reduction in the power transfer due to reflections. In this paper, a systematic experimental study of load matching between energy harvester and load resistance has been presented. The experimental results showed output voltage without external load condition is 68.46 V with the output current of 14.59 µA, consequently instantaneous power of 0.937 mW. Under the optimum load of 4 MΩ, the output power reduced to 0.248 mW. A rigorous experimental study has been carried out under the frequency and force of 4.5 Hz and 2.8 N, respectively. The triboelectric energy harvester device has also been demonstrated for the potential applications of the self-sustained system.