3D-printed endoplasmic reticulum rGO microstructure based self-powered triboelectric pressure sensor

Abstract

Developing new generation of self-powered triboelectric sensors is urgent in the application of Internet of things (IoT) with low-power consumption. However, the traditional triboelectric pressure sensors demonstrate narrow detection range and are used to be less sensitive in large pressure range. In this work, a 3D-printed endoplasmic reticulum rGO microstructure based self-powered triboelectric pressure sensor (rGO-TPS) has been proposed. By employing PDMS@rGO framework as dielectric layer and spacer, a force-electric coupling model was built to investigate the electromechanical sensing mechanism. Owing to the ultra-low Young’s modulus of the 3D-printed materials and designed device structure, the rGO-TPS can reach the sensitivity of 6.28 kPa−1 and broaden high-sensitivity region from 0.65 Pa to 10 kPa. Besides, it also improves the sensitivity to 0.61 kPa−1 during the large pressure range from 10 kPa to 140 kPa. It also illustrates a fast response time of 92 ms and great stability of 3,000 cycles without fatigue. In addition, the dynamic pressure response can be monitored by detecting the change of pulse-like short-circuit current signal. Benefiting from the structural advantages and ultra-high performance, several potential applications in gauging water droplets and air flows, and vibration recognition have also been successfully demonstrated. This work provides a promising strategy to promote the progress toward the practical application of self-powered triboelectric pressure sensor.