3D Conformal Surface Engineering of Continuous Fibers with Porous Microstructures for 1D Advanced Functional Materials

Abstract

One‐dimensional (1D) continuous advanced functional materials and devices with inherent flexibility for complex deformations facilitate a broad range of applications in wearable technology. This communication presents a new electrostatic self‐assembly strategy for controllable assembly of nanomaterials to fabricate 1D continuous materials with customizable functions based on a kind of continuous fiber fully surface‐engineered with 3D conformal porous microstructures (F@3CPMs) by a unique self‐assembly approach of breath figure using water microdroplet arrays. Through gently rubbing the modified fibers with suitable triboelectric materials, either positively or negatively charged F@3CPMs can be rationally prepared with adjustable triboelectric charge intensity. Besides showing superiority in incorporating desired components, such kind of F@3CPMs are demonstrated to have general applicability and enhanced performance in controllable self‐assembly of polymeric, metal, and carbon nanomaterials for customizable functionalizations. Moreover, taking advantages of continuous fibers that can deform largely, functional F@3CPMs are further applied for development of 1D flexible motion sensing devices by twisting directly, which can be either used as 1D freestanding devices for straightforward integration with conventional fabrics or woven as a fabric structure integrity for a kind of self‐powered interactive textiles without additional battery as power resources to detect and monitor the body motions of human beings.

Interfacial structure design for triboelectric nanogenerators

“…57 (E) Digital photographs of conductive F@3CPMs based on one-dimensional (1D) flexible motion sensing elements (MSEs). 58 Reproduced under terms of the CC-BY license. 55 fabricated using polysaccharides and proteins, including cellulose, 62 chitosan, 63 alginate, 64 and silk fibroin 57 (Figure 6D).…”

“…Copyright 2020, American Chemical Society. Reproduced under terms of the CC‐BY license 58 . Copyright 2021, Gong et al Published by Wiley‐VCH.…”

“…Specifically, low‐dimension materials are also applied in TENG devices, including 1D materials and 2D materials. Xu 58 prepared 1D continuous materials with customizable functions using a unique self‐assembly approach of breath figure, the TENG device based on 1D materials was demonstrated to respond quickly to press and release at both high interactive frequency and low frequency (Figure 6E). 2D materials, represented by transition metal dichalcogenides and graphene, benefited from certain properties different from their bulk counterparts, including electronic, optical, mechanical, and thermal properties, are also used for constructing TENGs 65 .…”

Surface microstructural engineering of silicone elastomers for high performance adhesive surface-enabled mechanical energy harvesters

“…[25][26][27][28] In recent years, we have devoted ourselves to understanding the origin of the CE phenomenon for controllable generation of triboelectric charges and mechanoradicals to rationally design and assemble mechanical energy harvesting, conversion and/or storage devices for green, sustainable and effective utilization of the mechanical energy that broadly exists but is wasted in the environment. [29][30][31][32][33][34][35] To achieve high-performance TENGs, on the one hand, unconventional triboelectric pairs based on viscoelastic polymer adhesives (VPAs) have been developed for high triboelectric charge density; 29 on the other hand, surface engineering of silicone elastomer (SE) triboelectric materials with adjustable microstructures, 31 a new mechanical energy harvesting model by doubling contact/separation processes, and all textile energy harvesters with a three-dimensional fabric structural integrity are also developed for CE performance enhancement. 30 Based on these previous studies, herein we present that the unique and unconventional strategy of using VPAs for CE with PTFE to achieve high-performance mechanical energy harvesters for electric power generation is also suitable for other frequently used triboelectric materials (such as eco-friendly SEs) by combining with a surface microstructural engineering technique.…”