Ultra‐High DC and Low Impedance Output for Free‐Standing Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Abstract

AbstractThe free‐standing triboelectric nanogenerator (F‐S TENG) is demonstrated to be an efficient energy conversion device. However, limited by the inherent features of high‐voltage, low alternating current and high output impedance, TENGs suffer from inefficient energy utilization and difficulties in practical applications. Therefore, the efficient harvest of mechanical energy and optimization of output are currently critical issues for TENGs. Here, a strategy is proposed for optimizing the inherent features by coupling F‐S TENG to a capacitor auto‐conversion circuit (CAC). For the first time, a specific idea is proposed explicitly to reduce the output impedance by the management circuit. Eventually, a high current density of 32 A m−2 and a charge density of 1.75 mC m−2 are achieved, which is 8.78 times higher than previous works. The power density and energy density reach to 124 W m−2 and 252 mJ m−2 under 470 and 150 Ω respectively. Then, 5000 LEDs and two lamps rated at 220 V and 50 W are manually illuminated. The resulting pulse output is utilized as a trigger source for the thyristor, enabling DC contactless switching. This work provides a novel approach to realize high‐performance DC output of TENGs and effectively reduce external load impedance.