Improved perovskite triboelectric nanogenerators by effective defect passivation and interface modulation

Perovskite-based triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have obtained wide attention and investigation due to their excellent dielectric and electrical properties, as well as the diversity of perovskite materials. In this work, phenethyl ammonium iodide (PEAI) was applied to tailor the interface of MAPbI3 films, to form a 2D/3D heterojunction, and to passivate defects of films. The TENGs after PEAI passivation achieved significant improvement in voltage and current density with an increase in the output voltage from 33.3 to 40.1 V, and the current density was improved from 9.1 to 10.1 mA/m2. The improved output properties might be attributed to changes in the triboelectric charge density, carrier mobility, reduced interfacial combination by effective defect passivation, and favorable charge transporting by constructing 2D/3D heterojunctions for the effect of the built-in electric field. This work demonstrates that interfacial modification is one of the feasible methods for improving the performance of TENGs and supplies further possibilities for high-performance perovskite-based TENGs.