Conductive interlayer modulated ferroelectric nanocomposites for high performance triboelectric nanogenerator

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) can convert mechanical energy into electrical energy and has been regarded as a promising portable power source. However, the low output power restricts TENG’s applications in energy harvesters and sensors. Herein, we developed an effective way of increasing TENG’s output power by combining ferroelectricity and conduction of the triboelectric materials. For this purpose, a conductive interlayer modulated ferroelectric nanocomposite was used as the negative triboelectric material. Compared with the conventional ferroelectric nanocomposites based TENG, the transferred triboelectric charge density of the conductive interlayer modulated ferroelectric nanocomposite based TENG can reach 105.70 μC m−2 from 17.50 μC m−2, while the output power density increases to 7.21 W m−2 from 0.11 W m−2. The boosted output performance can be attributed to the existence of a conductive intermediate layer in the negative triboelectric material, which induces charge trapping and enhances ferroelectric polarization of the nanocomposites. Apart from being used as wearable energy harvesters, the TENG device also exhibits a promising application in parachuting surveillance for preventing potential injuries. Furthermore, TENG device has numerous possible application scenarios for future airborne troops. This work provides a brand-new strategy for enhancing contact electrification, showing strong potential in design of high output TENGs.