Pumping up the charge density of a triboelectric nanogenerator by charge-shuttling

Huamei Wang; Liang Xu; Yu Bai; Zhong Lin Wang

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-17891-1

Pumping up the charge density of a triboelectric nanogenerator by charge-shuttling

Nat Commun. 2020 Aug 21;11(1):4203. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-17891-1.

Authors

Huamei Wang^#^{1

2}, Liang Xu^#^{1

2}, Yu Bai^{1

2}, Zhong Lin Wang^{3

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Beijing Key Laboratory of Micro-Nano Energy and Sensor, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China.
² School of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
³ CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Beijing Key Laboratory of Micro-Nano Energy and Sensor, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China. zhong.wang@mse.gatech.edu.
⁴ School of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. zhong.wang@mse.gatech.edu.
⁵ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA. zhong.wang@mse.gatech.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

As an emerging technology for harvesting mechanical energy, low surface charge density greatly hinders the practical applications of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). Here, a high-performance TENG based on charge shuttling is demonstrated. Unlike conventional TENGs with static charges fully constrained on the dielectric surface, the device works based on the shuttling of charges corralled in conduction domains. Driven by the interaction of two quasi-symmetrical domains, shuttling of two mirror charge carriers can be achieved to double the charge output. Based on the mechanism, an ultrahigh projected charge density of 1.85 mC m^-2 is obtained in ambient conditions. An integrated device for water wave energy harvesting is also presented, confirming its feasibility for practical applications. The device provides insights into new modes of TENGs using unfixed charges in domains, shedding a new light on high-performance mechanical energy harvesting technology.