Gas-liquid two-phase flow-based triboelectric nanogenerator with ultrahigh output power

Solid-liquid triboelectric nanogenerators (SL-TENGs) have shown promising prospects in energy harvesting and application from water resources. However, the low contact separation speed, small contact area, and long contacting time during solid-liquid electrification severely limit their output properties and further applications. Here, by leveraging the rheological properties of gas-liquid two-phase flow and the Venturi-like design, we circumvent these limitations and develop a previously unknown gas-liquid two-phase flow-based TENG (GL-TENG) that can achieve ultrahigh voltage and volumetric charge density of 3789 volts and 859 millicoulombs per cubic meter, respectively. With a high-power output of 143.6 kilowatts per cubic meter, a 24-watt commercial lamp can be directly lighted by a continuous-flow GL-TENG device. The high performance displayed SL-TENGs in this work provides a promising strategy for the practical application of solid-liquid TENGs in energy harvesting and sensing applications.