Enhancement of the Triboelectrification Using Artificial Surface Charges

Abstract

Triboelectrification is a novel technology to harvest electricity from unexploited environmental energy. Its efficiency depends on the area, morphology and charges on the in-contact surfaces. Many studies are carried out in order to increase the efficiency of the triboelectric generators by increasing the surface area or varying the morphology but the charge density is not properly focused until date. Herein, we will discuss the effect of the artificial charges induced on the in-contact surface. For that purpose, plasma treatment was used to increase the surface charge density of the in-contact surface. The increment in the charge density actually helped us to increase the efficiency of triboelectric generator even without changing the dimensions of the device. The output power was increased up to two folds as compared to the untreated device. At the end, we also charged the capacitor in order to compare the charge storing efficiencies of both devices. We found that the untreated device and the plasma treated device (15 min and 30 min) stored voltages up to 6 V, 9 V and 12 V respectively. This type of study will surely support the researchers to enhance the triboelectric current generation efficiency even without increasing the size of the device.