Nanogenerators promise self-powered sensors and devices for extensive applications in internet of things, sensor networks, big data, personal healthcare systems, artificial intelligence, et al. However, low electric current densities and short product lifespans have blocked nanogenerators’ applications. Here we show that structural superlubricity, a state of nearly zero friction and wear between two contacted solid surfaces, provides a revolutionary solution to the above challenge. We propose the first three types of superlubric nanogenerators (SLNGs), namely the capacitor-based, triboelectric, and electret-based SLNGs. With a systematical analysis on the influences of material and structural parameters to these SLNGs’ performances, we demonstrate that these SLNGs can achieve not only enduring lifespans, but also superb performances – three orders of magnitude in current densities and output powers higher than those of conventional nanogenerators. Furthermore, we show that SLNGs can be driven by very weak external loads (down to ∼1 $\mathit{\mu }\mathbf{N})$ in very low frequencies (down to $\sim 1\mathit{\mu }\mathbf{H}\mathbf{z})$, and are thus capable to harvest electric energies from an extremely board spectrum of environments and biosystems. Among the three types of SLNGs, the capacitor-based is synthetically most competitive in the senses of performance, fabrication and maintaining. These theoretical results can guide designs and accelerate fabrications of SLNGs toward real applications.

纳米发电机承诺将自供电的传感器和设备广泛应用于物联网，传感器网络，大数据，个人医疗系统，人工智能等领域。但是，低电流密度和较短的产品寿命阻碍了纳米发电机的应用。在这里，我们显示出结构超润滑性（两个接触的固体表面之间的摩擦和磨损几乎为零的状态）为上述挑战提供了革命性的解决方案。我们提出了前三种类型的超级润滑纳米发电机（SLNG），即基于电容器的，摩擦电动的和基于驻极体的SLNG。通过对材料和结构参数对这些SLNG性能的影响进行系统分析，我们证明这些SLNG不仅可以实现持久的使用寿命，而且还具有出色的性能-电流密度和输出功率比传统的纳米发电机高三个数量级。此外，我们表明SLNG可以由非常弱的外部负载（低至〜1$\mathit{\mu }\mathbf{ñ}）$ 在非常低的频率（低至 $〜\mathrm{1个}\mathit{\mu }\mathbf{H}\mathbf{ž}）$，因此能够从极端的环境和生物系统光谱中收集电能。在三种类型的SLNG中，基于电容器的电容器在性能，制造和维护方面综合上最具竞争力。这些理论结果可以指导SLNG的设计并加速其向实际应用的制造。