Entirely, Intrinsically, and Autonomously Self‐Healable, Highly Transparent, and Superstretchable Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Personal Power Sources and Self‐Powered Electronic Skins

Abstract

Power and electronic components that are self-healable, deformable, transparent, and self-powered are highly desirable for next-generation energy/ electronic/robotic applications. Here, an energy-harvesting triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) that combines the above features is demonstrated, which can serve not only as a power source but also as self-powered electronic skin. This is the first time that both of the triboelectric-charged layer and electrode of the TENG are intrinsically and autonomously self-healable at ambient conditions. Additionally, comparing with previous partially healable TENGs, its fast healing time (30 min, 100% efficiency at 900% strain), high transparency (88.6%), and inherent superstretchability (>900%) are much more favorable. It consists of a metal-coordinated polymer as the triboelectrically charged layer and hydrogen-bonded ionic gel as the electrode. Even after 500 cuttingand-healing cycles or under extreme 900%-strain, the TENG retains its functionality. The generated electricity can be used directly or stored to power commercial electronics. The TENG is further used as self-powered tactilesensing skin in diverse human-machine interfaces including smart glass, an epidermal controller, and phone panel. This TENG with merits including fast ambient-condition self-healing, high transparency, intrinsic stretchability, and energy-extraction and actively-sensing abilities, can meet wide application needs ranging from deformable/portable/transparent electronics, smart interfaces, to artificial skins.

High-performance compliant thermoelectric generators with magnetically self-assembled soft heat conductors for self-powered wearable electronics

“…A s the "Internet of Things" (IoT) enables all objects to be wirelessly interconnected, one of the long-standing demands is the realization of self-powered electronics that do not require additional power sources or batteries [1][2][3][4][5] . Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) have been regarded as one of the most promising candidates for independent energy harvesting due to their ability to convert waste heat to usable electricity [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] .…”

Wearable triboelectric sensors for biomedical monitoring and human-machine interface

“…The overwhelming majority of HMIs relies on tactile interactions ( Cao et al., 2018a ; Guo et al., 2020 ; Huang et al., 2020 ; Kang et al., 2019 ; Meng et al., 2018 ; Wu et al., 2018b , 2020 ; Xue et al., 2016 ; Yuan et al., 2017 ). From the traditional keyboards ( Ahmed et al., 2017 ; Chen et al., 2015 ; Jeon et al., 2018 ; Wang et al., 2018a ; Wu et al., 2018a ; Yang et al., 2013 ) and touch pads ( Chen et al., 2018 ; Dong et al., 2018 ; Shi et al., 2019a ) to the rising electronic skin ( Chang et al., 2020 ; Lai et al., 2016 , 2019 ; Wu et al., 2017 ), the tactile sensors are developed to be more flexible, sensitive, efficient, and multi-functional, even with human-like intelligence. In this part, six examples of TENG-based tactile sensors are reviewed: a high-resolution pressure-sensitive TS matrix for tactile mapping ( Wang et al., 2016 ); an elastic metal-free tactile sensor for detecting both normal and tangential forces ( Ren et al., 2018 ); a transparent and attachable ionic hydrogel-based pressure sensor for coded communication ( Lee et al., 2018 ); a flexible touch pad with subdivided units for tactile XY positioning ( Pu et al., 2020 ); a user-interactive electronic skin for touch track mapping based on the triboelectric-optical model ( Zhao et al., 2020 ); and a triboelectric tactile sensor producing various amplitudes of signals based on the history of pressure stimulations for mimicking neuromorphic functions of synaptic potentiation and memory ( Wu et al., 2020 ).…”

Nanogenerator-Based Self-Powered Sensors for Wearable and Implantable Electronics

“…The combined 3 × 3 pixel tactile sensor array was used in mapping the touch location and recording the shape of the object contacted with the sensor array ( Figure 6(a)). As shown in Figure 6(b), a selfhealed and flexible EHTS-TENG had been used in measuring different contact pressures with a great sensitivity [131]. The real-time signals generated in original state, 25% stretching, and after healing were recorded.…”

“…A flexible and textile TENG for energy harvesting has proved the possibility as a strain sensor for strain sensing [109]. The integrated device was prepared in a single silk chip and could be adhered to the skin or fabrics to collect the biomechanical energy and detect strain at Position/accessory Finger [124][125][126]128] Finger skin [127] Finger and hand [129] Hand [131,132] Wrist [130] Hand and chest [119] Sock [133] Elbow and wrist [134] Arm and leg [135] Wrist, foot, elbow, knee [137] Cap or jaw [138] Joint [106] Forearm, shirt, pants [109] Abdomen [117] Thumb and wrist [140] Finger [141,144] Cotton glove [142] Finger, elbow, arm, knee [143] Elbow, leg, neck [106] Respirator [108,145,148] Finger [107] Waist and abdomen [116] Hand and fingertip [147] Flexibility Yes [124][125][126][127][128][129][130][131][132] Yes [133][134][135]…”