Increase Output Energy and Operation Frequency of a Triboelectric Nanogenerator by Two Grounded Electrodes Approach

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) generally operates using two-electrodes to form a closed outer circuit loop without directly contacting ground. Here, a newly designed TENG, the two electrodes of which are grounded for doubling the energy output and the operation frequency, is introduced. The TENG operates in two modes: two-channel mode in which the two electrodes are simultaneously connected to the ground, and single-channel mode in which the two electrodes are alternately connected to the ground through a self-triggered vibrating switch. Both modes doubles the total charges to be transported compared to the traditional ungrounded TENG. For the single-channel TENG, about 30 current peaks with an output frequency of 50 Hz are generated in a single cycle at a motion triggering frequency of 2 Hz. The output energy at a load lower than 10 MO of the single-channel TENG is enhanced, and the enhancing ratio is more than 100 at a load of 100 k Omega. The two electrodes grounded TENG provides a new strategy for effective use of the energy harvested from our living environment.