Simultaneously Harvesting Friction and Solar Energy via Organic/Silicon Heterojunction with High Direct‐Current Generation

Abstract

AbstractThe direct‐current triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is a promising portable energy source that can power mobile electronics without any rectification circuits. Recently, the silicon‐based TENGs, as a rectification‐free power source, have drawn wide attention due to their high current‐density outputs. However, the performance of silicon‐based TENGs is still inferior owing to a low amount of carrier generation and poor efficiency of carrier collection. Here, a strategy is proposed to improve the performance of metal/silicon TENGs via building an alternative device structure consisting of a transparent conductive polymer interlayer. This transparent interlayer can passivate surface defects as well as enhance carrier extraction, enabling a simultaneous harvest of friction and solar energy. More importantly, the gain effect of friction‐induced electric field occurs, which significantly surges the power output efficiency. As a result, the device yields a record output performance with an output voltage over 1000 mV and an output current up to 6.0 × 103 A m‐2 under 20 mW cm‐2 white light illumination. This research not only promises an alternative energy source device that can harvest both mechanical and solar energy but also paves the way to separate photo‐generated carriers with a friction‐induced electric field.