Polyoxometalates-Based Semi-flexible Metal-Semiconductor Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Low Frequency and Small Amplitude Mechanical Energy Harvesting

The development of high-performance and low-cost durable triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) is essential for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. Many organic polymer friction materials used widely have thermal stability problems, which makes TENGs with semiconductors as friction materials stand out. Here, we report a semi-flexible TENG based on metal and TiO2 modified by polyoxometalates (POMs) as pure inorganic friction materials. Six different POMs are firstly selected to modify the friction materials of TENGs, and the output performance of TENGs with different POMs-modified semiconductors and different metals as friction materials are tested. Compared with the unmodified TENGs, the open-circuit voltage (V-OC) of the optimal Ag-K6P2Mo18O62(P2Mo18)/TiO2 TENG device is increased by more than 4 times, which is mainly attributed to the strong electron-accepting and storage capabilities of POMs. This study has demonstrated that TENGs modified by POMs have potential application prospects and provided a new method for increasing the electrical output of TENGs.