Charge Pumping Strategy for Rotation and Sliding Type Triboelectric Nanogenerators

Abstract

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is an emerging approach for harvesting energy from the living environment. But its performance is limited by the maximum density of surface charges created by contact electrification. Here, by rationally designing a synchronous rotation structure, a charge pumping strategy is realized for the first time in a rotary sliding TENGs, which is demonstrated to enhance the charge density by a factor of 9, setting up a record for rotary TENGs. The average power is boosted by more than 15 times compared with normal TENGs, achieving an ultrahigh average power density of 1.66 kW m−3, under a low drive frequency of 2 Hz. Moreover, the charge pumping mechanism enables decoupling of bound charge generation and the severity of interfacial friction in the main TENG, allowing surface lubricants to be applied for suppressing abrasion and lowering heat generation. The adaptability of the strategy to rotation and sliding type TENGs in low‐frequency agitations provides a breakthrough to the bottleneck of power output for mechanical energy harvesting, and should have a great impact on high‐power TENG design and practical applications in various fields.

Recent progress of triboelectric nanogenerators: From fundamental theory to practical applications

“…Besides, the TENG's output energy can be improved through external methods such as optimizing the working environment, introducing the power management circuit. In addition, charge pumping [155][156][157] and self-charge excitation 158 are two newly developed effective mechanisms for improving the output power of the TENG.…”

Simultaneously Enhancing Power Density and Durability of Sliding‐Mode Triboelectric Nanogenerator via Interface Liquid Lubrication

“…Notably, sliding DC-TENG can directly convert mechanical energy to a direct current or even constant current, which can directly power electronics without any rectifier or energy storage devices. Although some efforts including novel structure with radial-arrayed sectors on the contact surfaces and charge pumping strategy have been devoted to successfully enhance the output power of sliding-mode TENG, [16,17] energy loss induced by air breakdown and poor durability seriously limit its practical application.…”

Recent progresses on paper‐based triboelectric nanogenerator for portable self‐powered sensing systems

“…Since the birth of TENGs, people have proposed many ways to improve the output performance of TENGs, such as ion injection, 66,67 charge pumping, 68,69 reducing the dielectric film thickness 70 and increasing the dielectric constant 71,72 of film. In the process of increasing the dielectric constant of film, it is a simple and effective way to fill same high dielectric constant materials in the dielectric film.…”