Scalable Fabrication of Black Cu‐Embedded Polydimethylsiloxane for Enhancing Triboelectric Nanogenerator Performance in Energy Harvesting and Self‐Powered Sensing

Abstract

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are widely used in self‐powered electronic devices and tactile sensors. Herein, for the first time, the facile, low‐cost, and universal electroless deposition (ELD) technology is used to fabricate nonconductive black Cu to enhance the electrical output performance and sensitivities of TENG‐based tactile sensor. The output performance and sensitivities of the equipment are significantly improved by the introduction of black Cu nanoparticles (NPs) coated cellulose filter paper (CFP) into the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix. With an optimal load of black Cu NPs, the composite film‐based TENG produces the highest surface charge density exhibited by high sensitivities of 1.56 V N−1, 3.5 times of that obtained via PDMS‐based TENG under the same conditions. These properties facilitate the developed device to be competent at monitoring a kind of human movements, such as finger touching and bending. The proposed strategy not only demonstrates a promising potential of developing large‐scale practical self‐charging equipment and improving the output performance and sensitivities of TENG based tactile sensors but also provides a new perspective for applications in other fields.

Engineering Triboelectric Charge in Natural Rubber–Ag Nanocomposite for Enhancing Electrical Output of a Triboelectric Nanogenerator

“…The increment of electrical output was, however, relatively small at a high impact force (25–30 N) because the thickness reduction limit was reached. Moreover, compared with other previous studies, the NR-Ag TENG in this work showed a higher electrical output than the silicon rubber-based TENG, cotton fabric-based TENG, and PDMS-based TENG, , when tested at the same impact force as shown in Table S5 in the Supporting Information.…”

Fabrication of Advanced Cellulosic Triboelectric Materials via Dielectric Modulation

“…Blocking an appropriate amount of nanofiller in each hole can effectively prevent direct contact between the fillers, weaken the threshold effect, and prevent electron tunneling. [ 232 ] These research data show that the porous structure seems to be very beneficial to the triboelectric performance of the material. However, for the dielectric properties, the contribution of porosity does not seem to be positive.…”

Transparent, Stretchable, and Adhesive Conductive Ionic Hydrogel-Based Self-Powered Sensors for Smart Elderly Care Systems

“…In recent years, there has been a growing interest in wearable electronic devices, which are increasingly used in the fields of the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, robotic haptics, and smart elderly care systems. − Usually, electronic device systems are mostly made of rigid synthetic polymer materials, which are not suitable for wearable devices. − There is a great need to develop the next generation of flexible wearable electronic devices that are soft, stretchable to accommodate body movements and preferably self-powered to avoid the use of bulky batteries and cumbersome charging steps. − Conductive gel polymers, including ionic liquid (IL) gel, ionic hydrogel, and organic hydrogel, are chemically or physically cross-linked three-dimensional polymer networks containing conductive materials and free-moving ions. − With tunable mechanical properties and conductivity, these soft gels have been extensively investigated to develop soft and stretchable triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG)-based self-powered sensors and integrate them into wearable human–machine interaction (HMI) devices. , …”