A Noncontact Constant-Voltage Triboelectric Nanogenerator via Charge Excitation

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have attracted great attention in the distributed power sources field due to their ability to convert environment mechanical energy into electrical energy. However, the power density, durability, and humidity resistance of TENGs remain to be improved for large-scale application. Here, a noncontact constant-voltage triboelectric nanogenerator via charge excitation (ECV-TENG) is proposed to enhance the output performance, which first applies an adaptive-contact constant-voltage TENG as a charge pump and generates constant-voltage output via an elaborate noncontact phase-shift design. The ECV-TENG achieves an average power of 12.74 W m-3 Hz-2 and exhibits a long service life of over 2,000,000 cycles. Moreover, thanks to the humidity resistance of the constant-voltage pump and noncontact TENG, the ECV-TENG demonstrates a good humidity resistance at humidity up to 90%. This work not only promotes the potential applications of TENGs as a distributed energy supply but also provides new insights toward large-scale energy harvesting by TENGs.

Automated summary

This study proposes a noncontact constant-voltage triboelectric nanogenerator via charge excitation (ECV-TENG) to enhance output performance. The ECV-TENG achieves high power and long service life, as well as good humidity resistance. This research not only promotes the potential applications of TENGs as a distributed energy supply but also provides new insights toward large-scale energy harvesting by TENGs.