Effects of Environmental Atmosphere on the Performance of Contact–Separation Mode TENG

Abstract With great potential applications, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), is widely studied from various aspects, while systematic investigations about the effects of environmental atmosphere on its performance remain to be carried out. Here, a test system based on a piston‐structured TENG and one‐way valve gas line is built, employing the contact–separation mode. A series of tests about short‐circuit transfer charges (Q_SC) and open‐circuit voltage (V_OC) are studied among three kinds of dielectric materials (PTFE, Kapton, PET), in five pure gases (N₂, O₂, CO₂, Ar, He). At a static gas flow rate of 3 L min⁻¹ or static gas pressure of 6 kPa above 1 atm, multicycle statistics demonstrate that TENGs achieve the highest performance in CO₂ and the lowest in He. Meanwhile, Kapton‐based TENG shows the greatest disparity in different atmosphere, followed by PET‐based TENG, and PTFE‐based TENG. A microscale discharge mechanism is introduced to explain all the above. Moreover, a negative linear relationship between Q_SC and the static gas pressure above 1 atm is found. This study is an important reference for a high‐performance TENG configuration and device packaging in the future.