Achieving High Performance of Triboelectric Nanogenerators via Voltage Boosting Strategy

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has received significant attention as an energy harvesting technology capable of converting mechanical energy from the environment into electrical power. However, due to its inherent high impedance and low charge transfer output characteristics, the output of TENG is often relatively small. Current research typically focuses on switching on and off under intrinsic voltage for performance management. To further improve output performance, an energy management strategy is proposed that aimed at voltage boosting in this study. This strategy ingeniously designs the discharge sequence of two discharge switches to adjust the connection between the intrinsic capacitor and the matched capacitor, thereby facilitating instantaneous charge transfer under voltages surpassing the intrinsic voltage and significantly enhancing the power density. Combining this strategy with a power converter has significantly enhanced the energy storage efficiency of capacitors, thereby enabling improved power supply for sensor devices. Moreover, experimental results show a power density of 324.8 kW m⁻², indicating a 100% increase compared to the direct discharge strategy. With such high output power, five parallel 10-watt commercial lamps can be illuminated. This strategy introduces a novel idea for achieving high performance output from TENG.