With the growing importance of wearable and portable electronics in modern society and industry, researchers from all over the world have reported on advances in energy harvesting and self-powered sensing technologies. The current review discusses recent developments in triboelectric platforms from a manufacturing perspective, including material, design, application, and industrialization. Manufacturing is an essential component of both industry and technology. The use of a proper manufacturing process enables cutting-edge technology in a lab-scale stage to progress to commercialization and popularization with scalability, availability, commercial advantage, and consistent quality. Furthermore, much literature has emphasized that the most powerful advantage of the triboelectric platform is its wide range of available materials and simple working mechanism, both of which are important characteristics in manufacturing engineering. As a result, different manufacturing processes can be implemented as needed. Because the practical process can have a synergetic effect on the fundamental development, resulting in the growth of both, the development of the triboelectric platform from the standpoint of manufacturing engineering can be further advanced. However, research into the development of a productive manufacturing process is still in its early stages in the field of triboelectric platforms. This review looks at the various manufacturing technologies used in previous studies and discusses the potential benefits of the appropriate process for triboelectric platforms. Given its unique strength, which includes a diverse material selection and a simple working mechanism, the triboelectric platform can use a variety of manufacturing technologies and the process can be optimized as needed. Numerous research groups have clearly demonstrated the triboelectric platform’s advantages. As a result, using appropriate manufacturing processes can accelerate the technological advancement of triboelectric platforms in a variety of research and industrial fields by allowing them to move beyond the lab-scale fabrication stage.

Although the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has been highlighted as a promising mechanical energy harvester, the requirement of stacking the two individual layers, contact and conductive layers, has been ball and chain around the ankle of unleashing potential and an advantage of TENGs in their application expansion and commercialization. Herein, one-step fabrication of a single-layered bifunctional composite film-based TENG (BF-TENG) driven by the sedimentation of a sol-state precursor is proposed for the extremely facile conversion of various ordinary items into energy harvesters. The BF-TENG consists of the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix and a carbon nanopowder filler, and it includes both the dielectric part (DP) and conductive part (CP) in one single layer. The electrical percolation threshold of the incorporated concentration of carbon, IC_C, for CP to act as a passage through which induced charges move in BF-TENGs is determined to be 1.0 wt%. The degree of carbon sedimentation in developing the proposed composite can be controlled by the curing speed and the probability of a crosslinking reaction. The maximum peak power is approximately 0.093 μW when the contact surface area is 78.5 mm²; the contact frequency is 8 Hz, and the connected load resistance is 9 MΩ. Based on these results, the electrical performance of BF-TENGs in response to various physical stimuli is characterized considering the mechanical energy sources available in daily life. Then, converting ordinary surfaces such as desks and human skin into BF-TENGs through a single coating procedure and harvesting energy to power an electric device are demonstrated as a proof-of-concept.

Amid the growing interest in triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) as novel energy-harvesting devices, several studies have focused on direct current (DC) TENGs to generate a stable DC output for operating electronic devices. However, owing to the working mechanisms of conventional DC TENGs, generating a stable DC output from reciprocating motion remains a challenge. Accordingly, we propose a bidirectional rotating DC TENG (BiR-TENG), which can generate DC outputs, regardless of the direction of rotation, from reciprocating motions. The distinct design of the BiR-TENG enables the mechanical rectification of the alternating current output into a rotational-direction-dependent DC output. Furthermore, it allows the conversion of the rotational-direction-dependent DC output into a unidirectional DC output by adapting the configurations depending on the rotational direction. Owing to these tailored design strategies and subsequent optimizations, the BiR-TENG could generate an effective unidirectional DC output. Applications of the BiR-TENG for the reciprocating motions of swinging doors and waves were demonstrated by harnessing this output. This study demonstrates the potential of the BiR-TENG design strategy as an effective and versatile solution for energy harvesting from reciprocating motions, highlighting the suitability of DC outputs as an energy source for electronic devices.