Multichannel driving triboelectric nanogenerator for enhancing the output charge density

The output charge density is recognized as the most important parameter to characterize the performance of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). In this paper, we report a multichannel driving TENG (MTNG) through utilizing the external electric field outside the friction layers pair (Eext) to drive the flow of electrons in multiple channels and generate multiple outputs simultaneously, which is different from the past TENGs that drive them flowing in a single channel. Through increasing the number of driving channels and decreasing the thickness of dielectric layers in the driving channels, the output charge density of MTNG is increased to 5.35 mC m−2, which is the highest reported value of TENGs by now. This work provides a new path to increase the output performance of TENGs. [Display omitted] •MTNG is developed to generate multiple outputs simultaneously by one frictional layer pair and increase the total output charge density of nanogenerator.•A new record of TENG’s output charge density of 5.35 mC m-2 is obtained by further optimizing MTNG.•MTNG shows the unique ability as a stable multi-channel power source to avoid crosstalk noise among the driven loads or devices.