Charge self-injection strategy to enhance the volume charge density and output performance of triboelectric nanogenerator

As a sustainable power source for collecting energy from human body and the environment, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is of great significance for the application of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and every kind of widely distributed sensors. The powering and charging performance of TENG depends largely on its output power density, which is closely related to the charge density. Here, a universal strategy of charge self-injection is proposed to increase the storage depth of triboelectric charges to improve the volume charge density of TENG. This charge self-injection strategy (CSS) effectively enhances the electric field inside dielectric layer by short-circuiting the positive and negative electrodes of TENG, and promotes the drift of triboelectric charge into the dielectric layer, thereby significantly increasing volume charge density. In addition, volume charge density is further enhanced by stabilizing the electric field inside dielectric layer in the intermittent working mode and further exploring the charge drift process. Finally, CSS enhanced TENG achieves an effective areal charge density of 93.47 μC/m², which is 2.81 times that of traditional-TENG. This strategy improves the collection efficiency of triboelectric charges and output performance, which provides greater development potential for TENG in practical applications.