Hugely Enhanced Output Power of Direct-Current Triboelectric Nanogenerators by Using Electrostatic Breakdown Effect

Electrostatic breakdown is a common but generally negative physical phenomenon. Here, efficient conversion of mechanical energy to electric power is achieved by enhanced direct-current triboelectric nanogenerator (DC-TENG) based on contact electrification and electrostatic breakdown. By verifying the high temperature can not only improve the triboelectric charge density but also enhance electrostatic breakdown of air dielectric due to thermionic emission of electrons and avalanche breakdown effect. Meanwhile an appropriate low atmosphere pressure is another favorable factor to air breakdown in DC-TENG. As a result, its output power density is improved by three orders of magnitude at 473 K and 300 Pa compared to that at 298 K and standard atmosphere pressure. These findings not only provide a new paradigm to design high-performance TENG, but realize efficiently harvesting mechanical energy and thermal energy in one device by coupling the two kinds of physical effects.