Enhanced Performance of Triboelectric Nanogenerator with Micro‐Rhombic Patterned PDMS for Self‐Powered Wearable Sensing

Abstract

In recent years, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have been used in energy harvesting and microsensing widely, and the performance of TENGs has been gradually improved through dielectric material surface modification strategies. Microscopic arrays mostly require expensive and tedious experimental steps to fabricate, such as micropillars, microneedles, cubes, and pyramids. Herein, a new type of triboelectric nanogenerator consisting of micro‐rhombic patterned PDMS (MR‐TENG) is proposed to enhance the performance. The micro‐rhombic patterns are simple to produce, using only a wire bar coater. The open‐circuit voltage and short‐circuit current of MR‐TENG can achieve 81 V and 2.04 µA, respectively, which are 2.7 and 2 times those of triboelectric nanogenerator with smooth PDMS (S‐TENG). In addition, MR‐TENG can not only serve as a self‐powered motion sensor to recognize human motion status, but also be combined with electronic devices to form a self‐powered system to power small wearable devices including LCD screens, watches, and temperature and humidity sensors. MR‐TENG has the advantages of high cost‐effective, simple process, environment‐friendly, and miniaturization, which have good practical value in self‐powered wearable sensors.

Enhancing PDMS-based triboelectric nanogenerator output by optimizing the microstructure and dielectric constant

“…Unique signals are exhibited by different states of body parts. [31][32][33][34][35][36] The MSPS-TENG, which has been developed, possesses the advantageous characteristics of flexibility and stability, enabling the timely monitoring of human body movement.…”

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

“…It has the advantages of high strength, good heat resistance, easy dyeing, anti-wrinkle nature, comfort and lightweight, and is often used to prepare W-TENGs. 65,66…”

“…It has the advantages of high strength, good heat resistance, easy dyeing, anti-wrinkle nature, comfort and lightweight, and is oen used to prepare W-TENGs. 65,66 Considering hydrophobicity, Shen et al 67 used a cellulose acetate -polyurethane (CA-PU) nanober composite lm with amino surface modication as the positive friction layer. The I sc and V oc were 2.95 mA and 42 V when the relative humidity was as high as 90%.…”

Dome-Conformal Electrode Strategy for Enhancing the Sensitivity of BaTiO3-Doped Flexible Self-powered Triboelectric Pressure Sensor

“…Based on extensive literature, we found that most works based on surface engineering are focused on increasing the surface area and enhancing the triboelectric charge density. − However, the introduction of a microstructure increases the distance between the triboelectric material and the electrode, and its influence on the final output performance is still unclear. Based on this point, we design a conformal dome structure, where the electrode and triboelectric layer are conformal to the dome structure, and a nonconformal dome structure is used as a comparison to explore their influence on the output performance.…”