High Performance Rotary Triboelectric Nanogenerator in Weak Wind Conditions through Soft Contact Utilization

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) represent a promising technology for wind energy harvesting to power dispersed electronic devices. However, the high startup wind speed requirements of conventional TENGs limit their practical applications. In this study, we effectively mitigated this limitation by reducing the startup wind speed of rotary TENGs through adopting soft contact instead of the traditional hard surface. The startup wind speed of the TENGs was decreased to 0.2 m/s, which is only 1/3 of that required by conventional rotary TENGs. Moreover, the soft surface effectively absorbs mechanical energy during the friction process, thereby avoiding strong mechanical impacts that could damage the material and prolong the life span of the TENGs. Notably, the soft contact TENG with a rotary dish of 6 cm demonstrated a favorable output of 0.92 mW under a weak wind speed of 3 m/s. This work proposed an effective strategy to reduce the startup limitation of wind speed and improve the output performance of TENGs through the utilization of soft contact.