Improved Output Performance of Triboelectric Nanogenerator by Fast Accumulation Process of Surface Charges

Abstract As a promising energy harvesters, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) can be utilized to convert distributed energy into electric power, but the slow charge accumulation incorporated with the inevitable charge decay/leakage of conventional TENGs result in a low surface charge density and an inferior output performance, limiting their practical applications. Here, an effective strategy is proposed to realize high charge density by using a fast charge accumulation process on dielectric material with high relative permittivity. As a result, the charge density is tremendously improved to 2.20 mC m −2 on the poly(vinylidene fluoride‐trifluoroethylene) film. Meanwhile, the fast charge accumulation is highly conducive to reach a high charge density of 1.30 mC m −2 in a 90% relative humidity environment, which is ≈260 times that of a TENG with slow charge accumulation. This work not only provides a new insight into charge accumulation and equilibrium state, but also provides significant guidance on the performance optimization of TENG.