Novel TMDC/Si Heterojunction Based Direct Current UV Sensitive Tribovoltaic Nanogenerator and Visual‐Image Sensors

Abstract

Triboelectric nanogenerators have recently gained enormous attention as a low‐cost method for converting abundant mechanical energy into electricity. Here, a continuous direct current (DC) output from a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is achieved using two dimensional (2D)‐WS2/Si heterojunctions, without any need for a rectifier circuit element. At the interface of the p–Si and n–WS2 heterojunction, the “Tribo‐photovoltaic effect” is observed, responsible for the generation of direct tribo‐outputs. The demonstrated multifunctional DC‐TENG with remarkable performance can concurrently convert mechanical and photonic energy into an electrical one. In comparison to dark conditions, the device's output performance is enhanced under UV illumination (365 nm, 1022 µW cm−2), and the exhibited output voltage (10.75 V) and current (466 nA) are higher by a factor of 3.9 and 2.4, with excellent power harvesting ability and outstanding robustness. This versatile DC‐TENG is demonstrated to be an attractive platform for high‐performance vision sensors and UV detection, which has significant implications for the rapid development of self‐powered portable sensing and IoT devices based on Si CMOS technology.