Nanogenerators from Electrical Discharge

Electrical discharge is generally considered as a negative effect in the electronic industry and often causes electrostatic discharge (ESD) and thus failure of electronic components and integrated circuits (IC). However, this effect was recently used to develop a new energy-harvesting technology, direct-current triboelectric nanogenerator (DC-TENG). In this chapter, its fundamental mechanism and the working modes of the nanogenerator will be presented. They are different from the general alternating current TENG (AC-TENG) invented in 2012, which is based on triboelectrification and electrostatic induction. Taking advantage of the electrostatic discharge, it can not only promote the miniaturization trend of TENG and self-powered systems, but also provide a paradigm shifting technique to in situ gain electrical energy.