Chuguo Zhang, Chunxu Xue, Yijun Hao, C J Zheng, Seeram Ramakrishna, Jie Wang
ABSTRACT Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), as a mechanical harvesting technology that combines a wide range of material selection, high economy, portability, and low‐frequency efficiency, have a significant influence on related research fields such as the utilization of various environmental mechanical energy harvesting and self‐powered systems. This review elaborates in detail the technical principles and working mechanisms related to TENGs, and introduces in detail the key studies in the research process of high‐performance TENGs through three themes: material research, structural design, and charge excitation. Subsequently, the high‐performance TENG research on different energy harvesting (wind energy, ocean wave energy, and other energy) was summarized and analyzed. Furthermore, the recent progress in related fields was discussed through the gradient summary method from self‐powered electrochemistry (clean fuels, degrading pollutants, and recycling‐protection) and other power applications (high‐voltage source, passive IoT nodes, and other power systems). Finally, the rational summary of the relevant obstacles and challenges existing in the aforementioned research fields, and then provide reasonable prospects for the future development of high‐performance energy harvesting TENGs in a targeted manner. Based on this, the high‐performance energy harvesting TENG will be comprehensively discussed, and it is hoped to promote the rapid development and commercial application of TENG.