Nanofibrous membrane constructed wearable triboelectric nanogenerator for high performance biomechanical energy harvesting

Abstract With a rapid expansion in the field of wearable electronics, powering them entirely by batteries has become more and more unpractical and unfavorable. Here, we developed a lightweight, flexible and sustainable power source by fabricating a nanofibrous membrane constructed wearable triboelectric nanogenerator (NM-TENG), which is capable of converting human biomechanical energy into electricity for next-generation wearables. With an effective device area of 16 cm 2 under gentle hand tapping, it can deliver a current and voltage output respectively up to 110 µA and 540 V. And the electrospun nanofibrous membranes were tailored to enhance the triboelectric polarity, mechanical strength as well as surface hydrophobicity, which will eventually improve the device output performance, robustness and capability of operation even with high environmental humidity. Via harvesting the biomechanical energy from body motion, the wearable NM-TENG was demonstrated to sustainably power a commercial thermal meter, electronic watch, and light up about 560 LEDs. Given a collection of compelling features of being flexible, breathable, environmentally friendly and cost-effective, the NM-TENG can be extensively applied not only to self-powered wearable electronics but also possibly to power generation at a large scale.

[1]  Meifang Zhu,et al.  High-power triboelectric nanogenerator prepared from electrospun mats with spongy parenchyma-like structure , 2017 .

[2]  Byoungwoo Kang,et al.  Battery materials for ultrafast charging and discharging , 2009, Nature.

[3]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  High-efficiency ramie fiber degumming and self-powered degumming wastewater treatment using triboelectric nanogenerator , 2016 .

[4]  Gerbrand Ceder,et al.  Unlocking the Potential of Cation-Disordered Oxides for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries , 2014, Science.

[5]  Jun Chen,et al.  Harmonic‐Resonator‐Based Triboelectric Nanogenerator as a Sustainable Power Source and a Self‐Powered Active Vibration Sensor , 2013, Advanced materials.

[6]  Ren Zhu,et al.  Environmental effects on nanogenerators , 2015 .

[7]  B. Ding,et al.  Ultralight Biomass‐Derived Carbonaceous Nanofibrous Aerogels with Superelasticity and High Pressure‐Sensitivity , 2016, Advanced materials.

[8]  Taeseung D. Yoo,et al.  Generating Electricity While Walking with Loads , 2005, Science.

[9]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  A One‐Structure‐Based Hybridized Nanogenerator for Scavenging Mechanical and Thermal Energies by Triboelectric–Piezoelectric–Pyroelectric Effects , 2016, Advanced materials.

[10]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  All-in-One Shape-Adaptive Self-Charging Power Package for Wearable Electronics. , 2016, ACS nano.

[11]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Dynamic Behavior of the Triboelectric Charges and Structural Optimization of the Friction Layer for a Triboelectric Nanogenerator. , 2016, ACS nano.

[12]  Meifang Zhu,et al.  Human walking-driven wearable all-fiber triboelectric nanogenerator containing electrospun polyvinylidene fluoride piezoelectric nanofibers , 2015 .

[13]  Shengming Li,et al.  A Flexible Fiber-Based Supercapacitor-Triboelectric-Nanogenerator Power System for Wearable Electronics. , 2015, Advanced materials.

[14]  S. Jang,et al.  Honeycomb-like nanofiber based triboelectric nanogenerator using self-assembled electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) nanofibers , 2016 .

[15]  Long Lin,et al.  Rolling Friction Enhanced Free‐Standing Triboelectric Nanogenerators and their Applications in Self‐Powered Electrochemical Recovery Systems , 2016 .

[16]  L. McCarty,et al.  Electrostatic charging due to separation of ions at interfaces: contact electrification of ionic electrets. , 2008, Angewandte Chemie.

[17]  J. A. Hoffer,et al.  Biomechanical Energy Harvesting: Generating Electricity During Walking with Minimal User Effort , 2008, Science.

[18]  Zhaona Wang,et al.  Eardrum‐Inspired Active Sensors for Self‐Powered Cardiovascular System Characterization and Throat‐Attached Anti‐Interference Voice Recognition , 2015, Advanced materials.

[19]  Bin Ding,et al.  Electro-spinning/netting: A strategy for the fabrication of three-dimensional polymer nano-fiber/nets , 2013, Progress in Materials Science.

[20]  Hengyu Guo,et al.  Blow-driven triboelectric nanogenerator as an active alcohol breath analyzer , 2015 .

[21]  M. Willander,et al.  Lightweight Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Energy Harvesting and Sensing Tiny Mechanical Motion , 2016 .

[22]  Jun Chen,et al.  Triboelectrification‐Enabled Self‐Powered Detection and Removal of Heavy Metal Ions in Wastewater , 2016, Advanced materials.

[23]  Hyunsoo Kim,et al.  Base-treated polydimethylsiloxane surfaces as enhanced triboelectric nanogenerators , 2015 .

[24]  Keren Dai,et al.  Harvesting Ambient Vibration Energy over a Wide Frequency Range for Self-Powered Electronics. , 2017, ACS nano.