Metal Island Structure as a Power Booster for High‐Performance Triboelectric Nanogenerators

Abstract

The development of the Internet of Things requires the availability of compact and efficient power sources for the supply of autonomous systems. In recent times, electromechanical transduction devices like triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have gained strong attention as they permit simple, robust, and cost‐effective techniques. However, TENGs generally do not achieve the electrical power density required for the targeted applications, and the challenges of optimization are therefore to increase their generated power density. In this work, a multilayer flexible composite structure is developed by employing an insulator–metal–insulator island architecture in place of a single insulator material to accumulate and store the charges created by triboelectrification. This increase in stored charges has a strong effect in inducing free charges on the electrodes resulting in a maximum output power density of 4.8 W m−2, which is ≈150‐fold increase compared to the structure without metal inclusions. The results demonstrate a maximum charge density of 1076.56 µC m−2, which is to the knowledge, the best charge density value ever reported for TENGs in ambient working conditions. Therefore, this work proposes a new direction to significantly increase the electrical power density in obtaining high‐performance triboelectric nanogenerators attractive to future applications for active sensors and portable electronics.

Self‐Boosting Energy Generation via Triboelectric Nanogenerator–Capacitor Coupling

“…As another approach, external charge pumping strategies have been proposed to increase surface charge density by improving charge accumulation processes. [ 28–34 ] However, these strategies require an additional external energy source, [ 28–30 ] or, for unstable charge pumps, a longer start‐up. [ 31–32 ]…”

“…As another approach, external charge pumping strategies have been proposed to increase surface charge density by improving charge accumulation processes. [28][29][30][31][32][33][34] However, these strategies require an additional external energy source, [28][29][30] or, for unstable charge pumps, a longer start-up. [31][32] In this study, we propose an integrated TENG and its capacitive load system that can maximize energy generation and storage efficiency by inducing a coupling effect between the TENG and capacitor by providing specific patterns on the TENG's and capacitor electrodes.…”