Research on degradation of methyl orange wastewater with triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) driven by secondary effluent

MA Hong-mei; HU Jia-jie; XI Bei-dou; CHEN Yong-zhi; LUO Jie; ZHANG Yong-hui

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China Environmental Science ›› 2026, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (3) : 1367-1375.

Research on degradation of methyl orange wastewater with triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) driven by secondary effluent

MA Hong-mei^1,2,3, HU Jia-jie⁴, XI Bei-dou^1,5, CHEN Yong-zhi^1,3, LUO Jie^1,3, ZHANG Yong-hui^1,3

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Abstract

The triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), which was constructed of indium tin oxide (ITO), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and conductive aluminum tape, was utilized in this study. It was driven by secondary effluent to generate electricity for degrading methyl orange wastewater. Experimental results showed that a maximum output voltage of 23.52V and a current of 2.15μA were achieved by a single TENG unit. When aluminum, iron, copper, and stainless steel were used as electrodes to treat 40mg/L methyl orange wastewater, decolorization rates of 83.21%, 82.88%, 75.27%, and 51.38% were obtained respectively. With aluminum electrodes, decolorization rates exceeding 80% were achieved for methyl orange concentrations<60mg/L, but they declined gradually for methyl orange concentrations>60mg/L, and only 27.85% was reached at 150mg/L. When the number of TENG units was increased from one to six, the decolorization rate was increased from 85.05% to 91.05%. The degradation process was fitted to the first-order kinetic equation: ln(C₀/C_t) = 0.027t-0.0815.

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triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) / secondary effluent / methyl orange wastewater degradation / decolorization rate

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MA Hong-mei, HU Jia-jie, XI Bei-dou, CHEN Yong-zhi, LUO Jie, ZHANG Yong-hui. Research on degradation of methyl orange wastewater with triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) driven by secondary effluent[J]. China Environmental Science. 2026, 46(3): 1367-1375

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