Water purification system based on self-powered ozone production

Abstract Ozone treatment is an excellent sterilization technology, but high voltage is essential for ozone generation. Here, for the first time, we report a multifunctional water purification system based on self-powered ozone generation. The TENG with “like charges repel” strategy (LCR-TENG), which can obtain a maximum short-circuit current of 22.15 uA, a peak power of 80 mW, and a maximum transient voltage over 30.7 kV, is designed as the power source of the system. Then, an air-breakdown-discharge is generated by this TENG to support the ozone generation, while the maximum concentration of generated ozone can be up to 30 mg/m3 and it is enough for the application of water treatment. With continuous injection of ozone into solutions, Rhodamine B with 5 ppm concentration can be degraded by 97.6% in 20 min. The ozone generated by the system are effective for bio-sterilization in water, indicating the promising application for the treatment of organic matter and microorganisms in water. A variety of external loads, such as ultraviolet lamp and step-down circuit can be simultaneously integrated in the current loop and the function of the system can be further expanded without disturbing the ozone generation. Hence, this work broadens the high voltage applications of TENG for the multifunctional purification system.