Triboelectric filtering for air purification

Air pollution becomes more and more serious with the rapid development of the society, and the haze caused by particulate matters (PMs) has become a global problem. Thus seeking an effective technology for removing the airborne PMs or other pollutants is much desirable for alleviating the air pollution. The newly invented triboelectric nanotechnology can realize efficient air filtering with obvious advantages over traditional fibrous filtering and electrostatic precipitation. Here, a review is provided for recent progress in air filter by utilizing the triboelectric nanotechnology, starting from the choices of triboelectric materials and main features of triboelectric nanotechnology. The mechanism of triboelectric air filtering technology was presented as the coupling of triboelectric filtering and mechanical filtering. Then the approaches of air filtering were summarized as the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG)-driven air filtering, TENG-enhanced nanofiber air filtering, and self-powered triboelectric air filtering. The device structure, working principle and filtering performance were systematically discussed. Furthermore, the industry products which have been developed based on the triboelectric filtering technology were introduced.