Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have garnered significant attention due to their low cost and high performance. Achieving excellent TENG output performance requires selecting materials with a substantial potential difference and presenting specif...
Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have garnered significant attention due to their low cost and high performance. Achieving excellent TENG output performance requires selecting materials with a substantial potential difference and presenting specific methods to maximize the contact area between these materials. In this study, we fabricated and evaluated a high-performance TENG using two materials known for their significant potential difference: PDMS and silica. By forming microstructures on the surfaces of the triboelectric layers, we optimized the effective surface area through a silica embedding process, enhancing the TENG's output performance. The embedded silica positive triboelectric layer exhibits a larger surface area compared to a flat polymer layer, resulting in increased output current. Additionally, to increase the total contact area, we used porous PDMS with the same nanoscale dimensions as silica for the negative triboelectric layer. We controlled the embedding temperature and time to adjust the height of the silica exposed to the surface, thereby maximizing the power output of the TENG. Notably, this study utilized silica and SU-8 photoresist as positive triboelectric materials, with SU-8 used as a polymer to encapsulate the silica during the embedding process. We found that the SU-8 polymer exhibits stronger positive triboelectric properties than silica, a material widely known to be at the extreme end of the positive triboelectric series. By comparing the output of friction between microstructured and flat triboelectric layers, we confirmed that the combination of microstructured surfaces enhances the contact area and output current. It was confirmed that the maximum contact area between the exposed SU-8 polymer surface on the positive charge layer and the porous PDMS film on the negative charge layer produced a high output of 262V and 35 μA. This research is expected to contribute to significant advancements in TENG technology and holds potential applications for wearable devices and electronic devices. Key words : Contact area, Silica, Embedding process, Porous PDMS ,SU-8 photoresist