Standardized measurement of dielectric materials’ intrinsic triboelectric charge density through the suppression of air breakdown

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33766-z
• Publication Date: 2022-10-12T15:05:44Z
• Authors: Di Liu; Linglin Zhou; Shengnan Cui; Yikui Gao; Shaoxin Li; Zhihao Zhao; Zhiying Yi; Haiyang Zou; Youjun Fan; Jie Wang; Zhong Lin Wang
• Keywords: 0303 health sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; Science; Q; Article

AbstractTriboelectric charge density and energy density are two crucial factors to assess the output capability of dielectric materials in a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). However, they are commonly limited by the breakdown effect, structural parameters, and environmental factors, failing to reflect the intrinsic triboelectric behavior of these materials. Moreover, a standardized strategy for quantifying their maximum values is needed. Here, by circumventing these limitations, we propose a standardized strategy employing a contact-separation TENG for assessing a dielectric material’s maximum triboelectric charge and energy densities based on both theoretical analyses and experimental results. We find that a material’s vacuum triboelectric charge density can be far higher than previously reported values, reaching a record-high of 1250 µC m−2 between polyvinyl chloride and copper. More importantly, the obtained values for a dielectric material through this method represent its intrinsic properties and correlates with its work function. This study provides a fundamental methodology for quantifying the triboelectric capability of dielectric materials and further highlights TENG’s promising applications for energy harvesting.