The triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG)
can be used to transform kinetic energy into electricity based on
the triboelectric effect and electrostatic induction. In most cases,
the micro-/nanostructures are introduced on the polymer surface of
sliding-mode TENG, but their effectiveness on electrical output as
well as durability of the device are really ambiguous. Little research
has been devoted to investigating the relationship between the tribological
properties and electrical performance of TENG with a patterned surface
so far. In this paper, the pillar arrays are fabricated through lithography,
deep reactive ion etching, and replication techniques and a test platform
for both tribological and electrical performance for sliding-mode
TENG is constructed as well. Then, the effects of the pillar pitch
on the coefficient of friction, mass loss, and open-circuit voltage
are investigated experimentally. The reported results suggest that
the open-circuit voltage has a clear dependence on the sliding distance
of sliding-mode TENG with a certain patterned surface. Initially,
the open-circuit voltage increases with the increasing sliding distance
due to the increment of the contact area. Then, the open-circuit voltage
diminishes with the increasing sliding distance because of the transfer
of the material with negative charges from polyimide film to Cu surface.
Finally, the open-circuit voltage remains almost steady with the increasing
sliding distance, because the number of negatively charged wear debris
of polyimide on the Cu surface is almost constant during this time.
On the other hand, with the increment of the pillar pitch, the average
coefficient of friction is found to be decreased, whereas the mass
loss of the polymer film increases. The maximum values of the open-circuit
voltage and the steady-state open-circuit voltage decrease with the
increasing pillar pitch.