Mass-production of biomimetic fur knitted triboelectric fabric for smart home and healthcare

Abstract

While triboelectric nanogenerated knitted fabrics are regarded as a state-of-the-art and reliable energy source for wearable electronics, there are two bottlenecks in their widespread applications: few mass-manufacturing strategies and low power output. Here, by mature weft-knitted technologies, a 3D single-faced jacquard pile fabric TENG (SJPF-TENG) with the merits of high surface pile density, excellent comfort and breathability, good thermal insulation property, and superior durability, is mass-produced. Based on the high-density pile structure (about 16128 piles per cm2), the surface area of pile fabrics is 42.2 times that of the plain structure, which endows the SJPF-TENG with higher electrical outputs and good detection precision. With a peak power density of 1.4 W m−2 (dozens of times that of conventional textile-based TENGs), the SJPF-TENG is capable of lighting up 1392 light-emitting diodes, powering miniature electronics, and charging various capacitors. Furthermore, a self-powered remote control, an intelligent alphabet writing pad, a smart fluff carpet, and a proof-of-concept fluff keyboard array with 3×3 sensing pixels are demonstrated to verify its outstanding sensing performance. Our results provide a massive prospect for high-power textile-based TENGs in large-area energy harvesting, smart-home control systems, entertainment, elder healthcare, and security warnings.