High-Performance Triboelectric Nanogenerators Based on Commercial Textiles: Electrospun Nylon 66 Nanofibers on Silk and PVDF on Polyester

Abstract

A high-performance textile triboelectric nanogenerator is developed based on the common commercial fabrics silk and polyester (PET). Electrospun nylon 66 nanofibers were used to boost the tribo-positive performance of silk, and a poly­(vinylidene difluoride) (PVDF) coating was deployed to increase the tribo-negativity of PET. The modifications confer a very significant boost in performance: output voltage and short-circuit current density increased ∼17 times (5.85 to 100 V) and ∼16 times (1.6 to 24.5 mA/m2), respectively, compared with the Silk/PET baseline. The maximum power density was 280 mW/m2 at a 4 MΩ resistance. The performance boost likely results from enhancing the tribo-positivity (and tribo-negativity) of the contact layers and from increased contact area facilitated by the electrospun nanofibers. Excellent stability and durability were demonstrated: the nylon nanofibers and PVDF coating provide high output, while the silk and PET substrate fabrics confer strength and flexibility. Rapid capacitor charging rates of 0.045 V/s (2 μF), 0.031 V/s (10 μF), and 0.011 V/s (22 μF) were demonstrated. Advantages include high output, a fully textile structure with excellent flexibility, and construction based on cost-effective commercial fabrics. The device is ideal as a power source for wearable electronic devices, and the approach can easily be deployed for other textiles.

Reflections on boosting wearable triboelectric nanogenerator performance via interface optimisation

“…via branching nano fibres) are also likely to boost contact area; thereby, boosting textile TENG output. Some progress has already been made in this direction by using electrospinning to create a greater density of fibre contacts [49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59]. A comprehensive review of electrospun nanofibre based TENGs for wearable applications is given in Babu et al [59].…”

Modern Developments for Textile-Based Supercapacitors

“…Electrospinning is a spinning method that uses an electric force to draw threads of solution into a filament. This method allows tunable morphology, porosity, and composition while using very simple equipment. ,, The ability to change the porosity of the filament means that filaments can be extruded with large pores to give higher electrochemical performance from the increased surface area, and the electrospun filaments do not need a binder to adhere the material to the substrate . This is valuable as store bought synthetic fabrics and filaments are often completely smooth and offer no pores to increase the surface area.…”

A Review on the Development of Biopolymer Nanocomposite-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerators (Bio-TENGs)

“…89 Nanofibrous layers have a high area density and a good contact surface-to-volume ratio. Bairagi et al 28 used electrospun nanofibers of Nylon-66 to improve the contact area of silk-based Bio-TENGs. The resulting active layer exhibited high porosity and contact area.…”

“…Nanocomposite based Bio-TENGs: (a) silk-based Bio-TENG (Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2022, American Chemical Society), (b) biodegradable gelatin-based Bio-TENG (Reproduced with permission.…”

“…Bairagi et al 28 used electrospun nylon-66 nanofibers to coat a silk fabric. It increased the porosity and, consequently, the tribopositivity of the silk-based layer used in the fabrication of a TENG (Figure 2a).…”