Contact electrification field-effect transistor.

Utilizing the coupled metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor and triboelectric nanogenerator, we demonstrate an external force triggered/controlled contact electrification field-effect transistor (CE-FET), in which an electrostatic potential across the gate and source is created by a vertical contact electrification between the gate material and a “foreign” object, and the carrier transport between drain and source can be tuned/controlled by the contact-induced electrostatic potential instead of the traditional gate voltage. With the two contacted frictional layers vertically separated by 80 μm, the drain current is decreased from 13.4 to 1.9 μA in depletion mode and increased from 2.4 to 12.1 μA in enhancement mode at a drain voltage of 5 V. Compared with the piezotronic devices that are controlled by the strain-induced piezoelectric polarization charged at an interface/junction, the CE-FET has greatly expanded the sensing range and choices of materials in conjunction with semiconductors. The CE-FET is likely to have important applications in sensors, human–silicon technology interfacing, MEMS, nanorobotics, and active flexible electronics. Based on the basic principle of the CE-FET, a field of tribotronics is proposed for devices fabricated using the electrostatic potential created by triboelectrification as a “gate” voltage to tune/control charge carrier transport in conventional semiconductor devices. By the three-way coupling among triboelectricity, semiconductor, and photoexcitation, plenty of potentially important research fields are expected to be explored in the near future.