High Energy Storage Efficiency Triboelectric Nanogenerators with Unidirectional Switches and Passive Power Management Circuits

Abstract

The high-voltage and low-current output characteristics of a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) make itself difficult for directly powering small electronic devices. A power management circuit (PMC) is indispensable to address the impedance mismatch issue. In this paper, a TENG with a unidirectional switch (TENG-UDS) is developed, which can provide the maximized output energy regardless of the load resistance. A passive PMC with a simple structure and high energy storage efficiency is designed based on this TENG-UDS, which is made up of all passive electronic components, including an inductor, a diode, and a capacitor. Theoretical calculations show that the theoretical energy storage efficiency of the passive PMC can reach 75.8%. In the actual experiment of charging a capacitor, the measured energy storage efficiency can reach 48.0%. It is demonstrated that the electronic watch and high-brightness quantum dot light-emitting diode can be driven by using the TENG-UDS with the passive PMC, which cannot be achieved without the PMC. The passive PMC for TENG-UDS has the advantages of simple structure, low energy consumption, and high energy storage efficiency, which provides a promising method for the power management and practical application of TENG.