High-performance triboelectric nanogenerator based on high-permittivity BaZr0.2Ti0.8O3 nanowires with enhanced surface potential

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) provide a feasible solution to energy problems. Although great progress has been made in the development of high-performance TENGs in recent years, they still exhibit insufficient performance as power systems with high power consumption. Here, we propose a surface potential regulation-based strategy to construct high-performance TENGs using optimized electronegative poly (vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFE) with a high β-phase (86.99 %) and ultrahigh electropositive nylon 6 with high surface roughness and specific surface area as friction materials. The introduction of barium zirconate titanate (BaZr_0.2Ti_0.8O₃) nanowires with high dielectric constant and high aspect ratio into PVDF-TrFE significantly promotes the formation of polar β-phase and increases the dielectric constant and surface potential of the negative material. This effective strategy achieves a significant increase in the output voltage and current of TENG, which is respectively about 146 % and 154 % of the original. The TENG containing 4 wt% BZT nanowires can generate an open circuit voltage of 243.2 V, a short circuit current of 41.9 μA, and an excellent power density of 7.5 W/m², which exceeds the previously reported PVDF-based TENG. In addition, the high-performance TENG is able to charge a 22 μF capacitor to 4.1 V within 2 min at a low frequency (2.5 Hz) and power a calculator, demonstrating its great potential in efficient energy supply.