Effect of Humidity on Output Performance of Triboelectric Nanogenerator: An Experimental Study

The capsule triboelectric nanogenerator was fabricated with copper and polyvinyl chloride(PVC) as the positive and negative friction materials.The influence of the relative humidity on the output characteristics,including the open-circuit voltage,short-circuit current and charge transfer,was investigated.The results show that the relative humidity significantly affected the output properties.For instance,as the relative humidity increased from 10% to 33%,the open-circuit voltage,short-circuit current and charge transfer increased to 287 V,8.2 μA,and 315 nC,being 8.1 times,9.3 times and 8.1 times higher than that of the nonogenerator operating at a humidity of 10%,respectively.However,a humidity greater than 33% considerably deteriorated the output performance of the triboelectric nanogenerator,possibly because water vapor,deposited on the surface,and a water thin film.