Effect of humidity and pressure on the triboelectric nanogenerator

• Triboelectric nanogenerator was fabricated with micro patterns to enhance charge.
• Charge increases more than 20% as RH decreases from 90% to 10%.
• Charge decreases with increasing rate as pressure decreases to 50 Torr.
• Optimal condition is 0% RH and ambient pressure.
• Optimal pressure would be lower if RH is higher.

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) as a novel energy harvester has raised wide research interests recently, although the environmental effect on its performance is still lacking. This paper attempted to experimentally quantify the effect of the relative humidity (RH) as well as the pressure on the charge generated from a TENG. It was found that under the same mechanical excitation, the generated charge of the TENG increased more than 20% when RH decreased from 90% to 10% at the ambient pressure. However, the generated charge decreased as the air pressure decreased from atmospheric pressure to 50 Torr at RH close to 0%, while the optimal pressure shifted to a lower level when the relative humidity was higher. This study can contribute not only to the design and packaging of triboelectric devices to operate in varying environments and extreme conditions, but also to the fundamental understanding of the mechanism of triboelectric effect.

Effect of humidity and pressure on the triboelectric nanogenerator.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide