Xiong Dien, Nurulazlina Ramli, Tzer Hwai Gilbert Thio, Zhuanqing Yang, Siyu Hu, Xiangming He
Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have emerged as efficient mechanical-energy harvesters with advantages-simple architectures, broad material compatibility, low cost, and strong environmental tolerance-positioning them as key enablers of self-powered systems. This review synthesizes recent progress in energy-storage interfaces, power management, and system-level integration for TENGs. We analyze how intrinsic source characteristics-high output voltage, low current, large internal impedance, and pulsed waveforms-complicate efficient charge extraction and utilization. Accordingly, this work highlights a variety of power-conditioning approaches, including advanced rectification, multistage buffering, impedance transformation/matching, and voltage regulation. Moreover, recent developments in the integration of TENGs with storage elements, cover hybrid topologies and flexible architectures. Application case studies in wearable electronics, environmental monitoring, smart-home security, and human-machine interfaces illustrate the dual roles of TENGs as power sources and self-driven sensors. Finally, we outline research priorities: miniaturized and integrated power-management circuits, AI-assisted adaptive control, multimodal hybrid storage platforms, load-adaptive power delivery, and flexible, biocompatible encapsulation. Overall, this review provides a consolidated view of state-of-the-art TENG-based self-powered systems and practical guidance toward real-world deployment.