From garish to practical: synergetic effects of short-circuiting and charge-trapping for high-entropy energy harvesting

The ultimate goal of a triboelectric nanogenerator is to boost the electric output, while ensuring device simplicity, effectiveness, reproducibility, and practicability. This study addresses these virtues by introducing a newly found short-circuiting effect. Further, charge-trapping is synergistically employed to maximize the electrostatic charge and the charge transfer quantity, leading to 8.5-fold higher power density and 7-fold lower impedance. This simple but effective strategy leads to a record high volumetric power density of 384 W m⁻³ Hz⁻¹ and it perfectly fits a rotary-structure design for harvesting high-entropy kinetic energy of wind and water flow. Integrating with a unique circuit design, the device can effectively charge a capacitor and a lithium battery by scavenging the high-entropy energy for powering an electrochemical wastewater treatment. The results demonstrate a new performance level, representing a significant step toward making triboelectric energy harvesters a reality. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2024.