Investigation of the photovoltaic effect and tribovoltaic effect at the GaAs semiconductor-liquid interface

Contact electrification (CE) is a physical phenomenon that occurs between two materials. When two materials with different electron affinity are contacted, electrons move along the contacting surfaces due to triboelectrification. The result of this effect is direct current. In this study, the triboelectric current is generated by the bindington energy generated by sliding a water drop on n-type, p-type and GaAs p-n junction. In addition, since the water drop is transparent, it is illuminated with 100 mW/cm² while sliding and tribovoltaic and photovoltaic effects are evaluated together. The fact that the current value obtained was in the order of microampere (μA) showed that GaAs can be used in triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs).