Robust perovskite-based triboelectric nanogenerator enhanced by broadband light and interface engineering

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are a widely researched type of energy harvester suited to powering mobile micro-electronic devices. In this study, we present a hybrid MAPbIxCl3-x perovskite-based triboelectric nanogenerator (P-TENG) based on the coupling of triboelectric and photoelectric conversion mechanisms for simultaneous vibrating energy and solar energy harvesting. By optimizing the device structure, for the first time, planar TiO2 as electron transport layer (ETL) and ultrathin pentacene as hole transport layer (HTL) are combined together to photoenhance the output of a TENG. Experimental results reveal that P-TENG has achieved the optimal photoinduced enhancement due to the most effective charge separation that relies on the joint of HTL and ETL. As a result, the optimized P-TENG with ~ 0.7 cm2 effective area, the open-circuit voltage (Voc), short-circuit current (Isc) and the maximum transfer charge amount (Qsc) are increased by 55.7%, 50.8% and 58.2% upon illumination, respectively. Besides, the P-TENG shows fast response on both the full-spectrum simulated sunlight and monochromatic light extending from ultraviolet to entire visible region which enhances the potential application in photodetection. Our work presents a route to designing high-performance P-TENG via interfacial engineering to further boost the output ability of this photoelectric hybrid TENG.