Photovoltaic and triboelectrification empowered light-weight flexible self-charging asymmetric supercapacitor cell for self-powered multifunctional electronics

Abstract

Herein, we highlight the simplistic fabrication of a light-weight, flexible self-charging power pack by the prudent integration of two paper-based high-performance triboelectric nanogenerators (HPTENGs), one commercial semi-flexible photovoltaic/solar cell and a paper-based all-solid-state asymmetric-type supercapacitor (ASSASC) with optimized performance. Each HPTENG unit comprises of a ~20 wt% barium titanate nanoparticles loaded surface micropatterned post-polled PDMS composite (PDMS–20BTO) film-strip impregnated with graphite coated Whatman® 41 filter paper (GFP) as negative and a polypyrrole electrodeposited GFP as positive triboelectric friction layers, respectively. Contrariwise, the ASSASC consists of a nickel-cobalt-molybdenum oxide–graphitic C3N4 hybrid composite coated GFP (NCMO–gCN2/GFP) as positive and a graphitic C3N4 modified reduced graphene oxide coated GFP (gCN–m–RGO/GFP) as negative electrodes, separated by a thin PVA–KOH gel-type electrolyte membrane. Finally, under deformations/stress and illumination of solar light individually on top of our photovoltaic and HPTENGs driven self-charging ASSASC (PTSCASC) power pack, it efficaciously generates electrical energy and consequently stores this generated energy as electrochemical energy for sustainable power supply. Our self-powered PTSCASC# power pack prototype (with two ASSASCs) has been effectually integrated with a medical smart patch for electric pulsatile mediated controlled drug release. Hence, our as-designed self-charging power pack possesses immense potentials for self-powered multifunctional electronics and smart e-healthcare monitoring systems.