Textile-based triboelectric nanogenerators with high-performance via optimized functional elastomer composited tribomaterials as wearable power source

Abstract

Wearable power sources with high performance are attracting intensive attention, owing to their great potential in new-generation wearable electronics. Herein, we proposed a composited fabric with flexible functional elastomer layers (FEL@CF) and employed it as a negative tribomaterial in triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). The FEL@CF consists of a low-temperature vulcanized silicone (LTV) electrification layer, CNTs/Ecoflex nanocomposite layer, super-soft Ecoflex layer and conductive fabric substrate, which play critical roles on the output enhancement of FEL@CF-based TENG (abbreviated as FEL@CF-TENG). The effect of the thickness of the Ecoflex layer and CNTs content in the nanocomposite layer on the electrical performance of FEL@CF-TENG were systematically investigated. The FEL@CF with 180 μm thick Ecoflex layer and 1.6 wt% CNTs content was realized as an optimal sample to obtain optimum output signals. The high outputs (~490 V, ~43 μA, ~70 nC, 1.6 mW/cm2) were obtained from the optimal FEL@CF-TENG (2.5 × 2.5 cm2) under small force (~16 N) and low frequency (~1.5 Hz). The flexible FEL@CF-TENG can power for wearable electronics by harvesting biomechanical energy and operate in dual-electrodes mode (FEL@CF-DTENG) or single-electrode mode (FEL@CF-STENG). Especially, the power glove made of FEL@CF-STENG can contact with various daily-used objects for human motion energy harvesting. The durability and washability of FEL@CF-TENGs were also performed, exhibiting excellent stability even under harsh and complex conditions. All these merits of the FEL@CF-TENG not only provide a promising strategy for exploring high-performance wearable power source but also show great potential for applications in portable electronics and electronic textiles.