Superhydrophobic, Humidity-Resistant, and Flexible Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Biomechanical Energy Harvesting and Wearable Self-Powered Sensing

Abstract

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) as self-powered sensing devices have attracted extensive interest in the field of flexible wearable electronics. Endowing TENGs with excellent environmental adaptability and high sensitivity is considered to be one of the promising strategies to satisfy future intelligent electronic sensing devices. The interference of a humid environment and common bare electrode has been a great hindrance to the output performance of TENGs. In this paper, a core−shell superhydrophobic and flexible triboelectric nanogenerator (abbreviated as PP/AgH-TENG) was prepared based on a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film surface modified with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) particles as the triboelectric layer and AgNWs/PVA hydrogel as the electrode. The obtained PP/AgH-TENG (4 × 4 cm 2 area) can easily light about 360 commercial LED lights with a maximum power density of 3.07 W/m 2 by tapping. It is important that PP/AgH-TENG can overcome the effect of water molecules on charge transfer in a humid environment and quickly recover and maintain a high output. In addition, the bracelet made of PP/AgH-TENG can collect the mechanical energy generated by human movement, and these output performance curves clearly reflect the state of human movement. This research has great application potential in the field of intelligent wearable selfpowered sensing.

Material selection and performance optimization strategies for a wearable friction nanogenerator (W-TENG)

“…The method of adding nanomaterial modification is usually used to increase the surface charge density of materials for W-TENGs. Common nanomaterial addition materials are mainly nanoparticles (NPs), 205 nanowires (NWs) 207–210 and nanosheets (NS). 211,212 Chiu et al 213 integrated gold-coated tellurium (Au–Te) NWs into carbon fiber fabrics (CFF) to create a stronger electric field near the tip of the NWs.…”

Progress of Triboelectric Nanogenerators with Environmental Adaptivity

“…To this end, strategies involve design of TENG with waterproof materials [191] or make hydrophobic encapsulation [192] are commonly adopted. Waterproofness of materials can be realized by microstructure design, [193] coating with hydrophobic micro-nano materials [194,195] and chemical modification to change the active groups. [196] Wang et al developed a wet-resistant, stretchable single-electrode TENG based on a porous flexible layer (PDMS) and a waterproof flexible conductive fabric (Ag nanoparticles modified spandex fabric/ polydopamine/ reduced graphene oxide).…”

“…By simulating the biological fluid environment in vitro, a certain foundation can be established for the biodegradability research of implantable TENG. Also, 45% [196] 60% [195] 92% [192] Mechanical durability 100 cycles [196] 5000 cycles [217] 500 cycles [48] 7 days [218] 1000 cycles [219] 7200 cycles [220] 10000 cycles [68] 4000 cycles [221] Waterproofness (water contact angle)…”

Humidity-Resistant, Conductive Fabric-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Efficient Energy Harvesting and Human–Machine Interaction Sensing

“…The basic structure of the TENG is composed of a tribolayer and electrode. Conventional triboelectric materials are mainly various polymers, and they suffer from nondegradability and impermeability. , In addition, the commonly used conductive materials are metallic materials. They are more brittle, have the risk of causing allergies, and are prone to oxidation and corrosion in harsh environments .…”