Spray-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerator With Ultra-High Current for Hydrogen Generation.

Abstract

Solid-liquid triboelectric nanogenerators (SL‑TENGs) have achieved notable progress in blue energy harvesting; however, their practical deployment is still limited by generally low and discontinuous current output. Here, we report a spray‑based TENG (S‑TENG) that introduces a dedicated spark discharge device (SDD) for active charge accumulation and controlled release. This design shifts the discharge process from the conventional passive and stochastic breakdown to an active, periodic spark‑discharge regime. Consequently, the S‑TENG delivers a breakthrough instantaneous short‑circuit current of 665 mA and an open‑circuit voltage of 900 V, operating continuously at 122 Hz, representing an improvement of over two orders of magnitude in both current amplitude and frequency compared to typical SL‑TENGs. Based on this high‑power output, the S‑TENG can directly illuminate a 110 W incandescent lamp or simultaneously drive 4000 commercial LEDs. When integrated with a power‑management circuit, it further enables water electrolysis for hydrogen production with an efficiency of 55.8%. This work not only pushes the current output of SL‑TENGs into the milliampere range but also provides a new strategy-through structural decoupling and active discharge regulation-to enhance the power density of TENGs, paving the way for their application in marine energy harvesting and electrochemical synthesis.