Synergistic enhancement of coaxial nanofiber-based triboelectric nanogenerator through dielectric and dispersity modulation

Abstract The increased use of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) has shown that enhancement of the output performance is a primary requirement for their development. Here, a synergistic enhancement via dielectric and dispersity modulation in nanoscale is reported for a novel barium titanate-doped coaxial nanofiber-based triboelectric nanogenerator (BTCN-TENG). Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and barium titanate nanoparticles (BT NPs) are combined as the core of the coaxial nanofiber instead of conventional composite film by in situ curing during electrospinning process, and BT NPs incorporated in the PDMS core layer are shown to effectively increase the dielectric constant of the composite nanofiber mat as well as the output performance of the BTCN-TENG. Furthermore, an improved dispersity of BT NPs in the PDMS core layer compared to that achieved in the poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) shell layer was found to contribute significantly to the output performance of the BTCN-TNEG. The optimized BTCN-TENG exhibits a high output voltage of 1020 V, a current of 29 μA, and a maximum power density of 2.2 W/m2 under a 30 MΩ load resistance. In power supply application, the BTCN-TENG could successfully drive various electronic devices via mechanical energy conversion.