Achieving High-Efficiency Wind Energy Harvesting Triboelectric Nanogenerator by Coupling Soft Contact, Charge Space Accumulation, and Charge Dissipation Design

To enhance the durability of a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), soft contact is an effective approach due to its flexible and elastic contact mode. However, soft contact is hard to obtain with a large charge density by triboelectrification, resulting in low power output. Herein, a novel blade soft contact TENG (BSC-TENG), coupling flexible functional blades with shielded electrodes on the rotor, charge accumulation, and charge dissipation design on the stator, is proposed. Extra polishing blades and debris storage grooves are adopted in the BSC-TENG to further ensure high durability. A remarkable charge density of 328 & mu;C m-2 is achieved, setting a new record for soft contact TENGs. Besides, the output charge remains at 100% even after 200 000 cycles. The wind-driven BSC-TENG not only can power 3840 green LEDs and 80 parallel hygrothermometers but also can drive electronic devices for smart farms, establishing self-powered sensing systems. This work provides a novel strategy for enhancing soft contact TENG output and durability. A soft contact triboelectric nanogenerator based on the charge space accumulation effect, polishing blade, and debris storage groove for harvesting micro energy achieves the highest recorded charge density for soft contact mode TENGs and has greatly reliable stability for long-term operation.image