Oleic-acid enhanced triboelectric nanogenerator with high output performance and wear resistance

Recent advances in triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) by suitable micro/nanostructure fabrication and surface chemical modification have greatly optimized surface charge density and output performance, but poor wear resistance of micro/nanostructure and surface modification composition is still the bottleneck for practical applications. Here, an oleic-acid-enhanced triboelectric nanogenerator (OA-TENG) with high output performance and wear resistance is reported, in which the OA was used to improve the electronegativity of polystyrene (PS) friction pair and also used as lubrication additives to reduce friction coefficient and wear volume. The maximum output power of the PS based TENG doping with oleic acid reached 470.5 μW, which is 79 times larger than the device without doping oleic acid. More importantly, the tribological tests show that the addition of 4.8 wt % OA reduced the wear volume by about 90% comparing to pure PS, which is a key role to ensure the long-term work of TENG. The wear-resistant friction electrode material can be prepared in a large area and used for energy collection to design temperature self-powered sensors or cathodic protection devices. This protocol shows new perspectives for TENG researches in terms of high performance, wear resistance and robustness for green-energy harvesting and applications.