High-performance triboelectric nanogenerators based on the organic semiconductor copper phthalocyanine.

In this work, we fabricated triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) with the triboelectric friction layer made of the organic semiconductor copper phthalocyanine (CuPc). Iodine was incorporated into CuPc to tune the work function of the CuPc films. With 10 wt% iodine doping concentration, the TENG showed an excellent output performance with a voltage output of 300 V, a current density of 110 mA m-2, and a power density of 8.68 W m-2 compared to those reported for inorganic semiconductor-based TENGs. Leveraging the ethanol sensitivity of CuPc, a self-powered ethanol sensor was also demonstrated. The successful demonstration of organic semiconductors as the triboelectric friction layer will enable the development of fully flexible high performance semiconductor-based TENGs, as well as direct current TENGs based on semiconducting heterojunctions.