Boosting performance of triboelectric nanogenerator via polydimethylsiloxane modified with perovskite BiFeO3 nanoparticles

ABSTRACT Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have great potential applications in the field of microelectronics. However, the low surface charge density of the triboelectric layer is one of the key problems greatly limiting its output performance. Herein, we report a high-performance TENG using BiFeO3@polydimethylsiloxane (BFO@PDMS) composite film as a triboelectric layer. The results indicate that doping a small amount of BFO particles can significantly increase the dielectric constant and surface area of the PDMS film, which maximises the surface charge density of the triboelectric layer. With an optimized doping concentration , the dielectric constant of BFO@PDMS composite film is 14.2% higher than that of the pure PDMS film. The BFO@PDMS-based TENG delivers a maximum output voltage and current of 180 V and 30 μA, corresponding to 200% and 500% increases compared with pure PDMS film, respectively, which can drive an electronic watch and light 52 LEDs, indicating potential applications in microelectronic devices.