Fabrication of triboelectric polymer films via repeated rheological forging for ultrahigh surface charge density

Zhaoqi Liu; Yunzhi Huang; Yuxiang Shi; Xinglin Tao; Hezhi He; Feida Chen; Zhao-Xia Huang; Zhong Lin Wang; Xiangyu Chen; Jin-Ping Qu

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-31822-2

Fabrication of triboelectric polymer films via repeated rheological forging for ultrahigh surface charge density

Nat Commun. 2022 Jul 14;13(1):4083. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-31822-2.

Authors

Zhaoqi Liu^#^{1

2

3}, Yunzhi Huang^#², Yuxiang Shi^{1

3}, Xinglin Tao^{1

3}, Hezhi He², Feida Chen⁴, Zhao-Xia Huang⁵, Zhong Lin Wang^{1

3

6}, Xiangyu Chen^{7

8}, Jin-Ping Qu^{9

10}

Affiliations

¹ CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100083, Beijing, China.
² National Engineering Research Center of Novel Equipment for Polymer Processing; Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering, Ministry of Education; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Technique and Equipment for Macromolecular Advanced Manufacturing; Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, 510641, Guangzhou, China.
³ School of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China.
⁴ Department of Nuclear Science & Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China.
⁵ National Engineering Research Center of Novel Equipment for Polymer Processing; Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering, Ministry of Education; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Technique and Equipment for Macromolecular Advanced Manufacturing; Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, 510641, Guangzhou, China. mehuangzx@scut.edu.cn.
⁶ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0245, USA.
⁷ CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100083, Beijing, China. chenxiangyu@binn.cas.cn.
⁸ School of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China. chenxiangyu@binn.cas.cn.
⁹ National Engineering Research Center of Novel Equipment for Polymer Processing; Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering, Ministry of Education; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Technique and Equipment for Macromolecular Advanced Manufacturing; Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, 510641, Guangzhou, China. jpqu@scut.edu.cn.
¹⁰ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, 430074, Wuhan, China. jpqu@scut.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Triboelectric polymer with high charge density is the foundation to promote the wide range of applications of triboelectric nanogenerators. This work develops a method to produce triboelectric polymer based on repeated rheological forging. The fluorinated ethylene propylene film fabricated by repeated forging method not only has excellent mechanical properties and good transmittance, but also can maintain an ultrahigh tribo-charge density. Based on the film with a thickness of 30 μm, the output charge density from contact-separation nanogenerator reaches 352 μC·m^-2. Then, the same film is applied for the nanogenerator with air-breakdown mode and a charge density of 510 μC·m^-2 is further achieved. The repeated forging method can effectively regulate the composition of surface functional groups, the crystallinity, and the dielectric constants of the fluorinated ethylene propylene, leading to the superior capability of triboelectrification. Finally, we summarize the key parameters for elevating the electrification performance on the basis of molecular structure and related fabrication crafts, which can guide the further development of triboelectric polymers.