Recent studies have focused on enhancing the efficiency of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) using aluminum (Al) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). This research investigates how surface morphology and material structure affect energy generation. By layering PDMS/Al and creating pyramid-shaped patterns, the study found that increasing the number of PDMS/Al layers significantly boosts the output voltage, reaching over 234 mV with three layers. Additionally, increasing the number of pyramid structures from 1 to 36 on PDMS surfaces, while maintaining the same contact area, led to a notable rise in generated voltage due to charge concentration at the pyramid tips. Higher pyramid angles also amplified this effect. These results highlight the importance of structural optimization in maximizing the energy output of TENGs, offering a promising route for more efficient energy harvesting.

We use UV(ultraviolet)-O3 treatment to increase the surface area and porosity of TiO2 films in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). After the UV-O3 treatment, surface area and porosity of the TiO2 films were increased, the increased porosity lead to amount of dye loading and solar conversion efficiency was improved. Field emission scanning electron microscopy images clearly showed that the nanocrystalline porosity of films were increased by UV-O3 treatment. The Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller surface area of the TiO2 films were increased from 0.71 cm2/g to 1.31 cm2/g by using UV-O3 treatment for 20 min. Also, UV-O3 treatment of TiO2 films significantly enhanced their solar conversion efficiency. The efficiency of the films without treatment was 4.9%, and was increased to 5.6% by UV-O3 treatment for 20 min. Therefore the process enhanced the solar conversion efficiency of DSSCs, and can be used to develop high sensitivity DSSCs.