The output voltage of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) is much higher than the overload capacity of most commercial electronics, making it hard to power them directly; so the power-management solution is indispensable. In the meanwhile, it is critical for practical applications to enhance the output performance of the TENG toward its breakdown limit, which is usually ignored before. Here, an inductor-free output multiplier (OM) for power promotion and management of TENGs is proposed, with the breakdown effect considered. This OM, as expanded based on bennet's doubler, is theoretically studied and experimentally demonstrated to significantly enhance the output performance of the TENG within only a few working cycles. The charge output was enhanced by 7.6 times experimentally with the OM. An external capacitor and a switch are applied to realize a high energy extraction ratio of up to 196%, with the average charge output per cycle of ∼3-3.75 μC achieved. This OM circuit with the smart switch is suitable for power promotion of TENGs with variable capacitance and for power management of all TENGs. The OM circuit is demonstrated to ensure the high output performance of TENGs even at a low triboelectric charge density, which is crucial for broad applications of the TENG toward self-powered systems, potentially to be a solution for improving the output performance of TENGs working in harsh environments.
Keywords: breakdown effect; output enhancement; output multiplier; power management; triboelectric nanogenerator.