With the rapid development of technology and the expansion
of the
information age, self-powered systems are gradually emerging. Triboelectric
nanogenerators (TENGs), coupling contact electrification and electrostatic
induction, can realize continuous power supplied for small devices
by converting energy. Traditional TENGs mainly used organic polymer
insulators as triboelectric materials, which are limited by low current
density alternating current. Recently, many different semiconductor
material systems, especially gallium nitride (GaN), have been tried
for better electric output performance or more application potential
due to their high current density direct current, which can improve
the output performance and mechanical properties of TENGs and have
important application value at the forefront of portable electronic
devices, Internet of things, environmental and infrastructural monitoring,
medical science, security, and other fields. In this review, we summarize
the latest research achievements and progress on TENGs with different
semiconductor structures, including metalâsemiconductor TENGs,
semiconductorâsemiconductor TENGs, metalâinsulatorâsemiconductor
TENGs, and liquidâsemiconductor TENGs. On the basis of the
current TENG theory of tribovoltaic effect, the generation mechanism
and performance of each TENG was represented. Direct-current TENGs
based on semiconductor structure show great promise for self-powered
electronic devices.