This article presents a self-powered, bipolar, rectifierless series synchronized switch harvesting on inductor (BiReL-SSHI) interface circuit for piezoelectric energy harvesting. At both the positive and negative peaks of the piezoelectric transducer (PZT) voltage, a synchronous switch is automatically activated, enabling energy transfer from the PZT to a storage capacitor, while the inductor simultaneously inverts the PZT voltage for the next half cycle. Compared to conventional full-bridge rectifiers (FBRs) and series synchronized switch harvesting on inductor circuits, the BiReL-SSHI topology employs fewer components by optimizing the positive and negative synchronous switches, thereby reducing power loss and improving energy extraction efficiency. Experimental results show that the BiReL-SSHI achieves a 5.4× improvement in power extraction compared to an FBR, when the open-circuit voltage (V _oc) of the PZT is 8 V. Furthermore, in scenarios where a high V _oc is converted to a low output voltage, the BiReL-SSHI achieves superior energy transfer efficiency compared to other interface circuits. Experimental results further demonstrate that at a 3.3 V output under identical vibration conditions, the BiReL-SSHI delivers 5.86× higher output power than the FBR.

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), advantageous in high energy density and flexibility, is promising as a sustainable energy source but can hardly be used to power edge devices directly due to its high-voltage AC output and varying capacitive impedance. To address it, this work proposes a power-conditioning interface with a fully integrated dual synchronous switch harvesting on capacitors (D-SSHC) rectifier for triboelectric energy extraction. Furthermore, a full digital duty-cycle-based (DCB) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm is developed to optimize the energy harvesting efficiency with simple implementation and continuous tracking. Designed and fabricated in a 0.18-μm BCD process, the proposed interface can extract energy at a maximum output voltage of 70 V. According to the measurement results, it achieves 99% MPPT efficiency and an energy extraction improvement of 598% compared to a full-bridge rectifier.

A triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is a kinetic energy transducer with small and time-varying internal capacitance, which increases the difficulties of extracting harvested energy. In this paper, an efficient rectifier, hybridizing synchronized electric charge extraction (SECE) and bias-flipping techniques, is proposed. The two techniques alternatively operate at opposite voltage polarities of the TENG. By taking advantage of the varying capacitance, the proposed synchronized extraction and flipping (SEF) rectifier shows significantly improved energy extraction performance. The design is implemented in a 180-nm high-voltage BCD technology, and the results show a 7.4X energy extraction enhancement, 65-V voltage tolerance, and 35-nA quiescent current.

The various application scenarios of triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) have attracted increasing research interest, while one of the biggest challenges is the energy extraction efficiency. Due to the small and time-varying inherent capacitor in a TENG, the previous energy extraction techniques e.g., full-bridge rectifier (FBR) and bias-flip (BF) rectifier, performed not well. To extract more energy from TENG, this article proposed a fully integrated switched-capacitor (SC) rectifier with an electrostatic charge boosting (ECB) technique, achieving simultaneous extraction from the synchronized triboelectric energy and self-excited electrostatic energy. The proposed rectifier was fabricated in a 180-nm BCD process. With the proposed ECB technique, the theoretical analysis and measurements show a quadratically increasing output power with respect to the rectification voltage, attaining a constant maximum power point (MPP) at the breakdown voltage of the circuit. A maximum output power of 127.6 μ W is measured with a TENG fabricated in-house. Compared to a passive FBR, the proposed rectifier enhances the output power by 14 times.

A triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is a new transducer utilizing contact electrification and electrostatic induction to transform mechanical energy into electric energy. Due to its high energy density and flexibility, it can be employed to make electronic devices self-powered by harvesting ambient mechanical energy in many application scenarios, such as biomedical devices, wearable electronics, and Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensors. However, due to the time-varying and low internal capacitance of a TENG, it is challenging to extract electrical energy from it. Hence, good power conversion techniques are crucial in TENG energy harvesting systems. Currently, studies on dedicated integrated power conversion techniques are very limited. Due to the exponentially increasing research interests in TENG, a comprehensive study on the TENG energy harvesting system, emphasizing integrated-circuit (IC) power conversion techniques, is urgently needed. This paper summarizes and compares the state-of-the-art triboelectric energy harvesting systems, focusing on different power conversion techniques for output power enhancement. Some techniques, which have been widely used in other relevant energy harvesting systems, are also mentioned to inspire innovative design strategies for TENG systems.