Effect of Surface Texture on the Output Performance of Lateral Sliding-Mode Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Abstract

In the working process of textured sliding-mode Triboelectric Nanogenerator (TENG), triboelectrification and wear occur simultaneously. At present, there is no systematic research on how the size of surface texture affects surface wear and output performance. In this paper, polymer surface with cylindrical texture of different pitches was prepared by photolithography and replication technology. According to the experimental results, the relationship between surface charge density and normal load of textured PI films was determined. Then the wear and electrostatic field of textured sliding-mode TENG were simulated by finite element method. The results show that the surface charge density increases with the contact load. And the open-circuit voltage of the sliding-mode TENG increases with the sliding distance given in this paper. The reason is that the height of textures in the separation zone is higher, which is caused by the shorter in-friction time and less wear, leading to the increased contact load in the next full-contact state. Therefore, more charges caused by the increased contact load tend to induce the higher output voltage. Moreover, textured surface with small pitch has better wear resistance and output characteristics. This research can provide an analytical method and basis for designing of surface texture in sliding-mode TENG.