All-Fiber-Structured Triboelectric Nanogenerator via One-Pot Electrospinning for Self-Powered Wearable Sensors

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Jun 2;13(21):24774-24784. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c03894. Epub 2021 May 20.

Abstract

With the rapid development in wearable electronics, self-powered devices have recently attracted tremendous attention to overcome the restriction of conventional power sources. In this regard, a simple, scalable, and one-pot electrospinning fabrication technique was utilized to construct an all-fiber-structured triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). Ethyl cellulose was co-electrospun with polyamide 6 to serve as the triboelectric positive material, and a kind of strongly electronegative conductive material of MXene sheet was innovatively incorporated into poly(vinylidene fluoride) nanofiber to act as a triboelectric negative material. The assembled all-fiber TENG exhibited excellent durability and stability, as well as excellent output performance, which reached a peak power density of 290 mW/m2 at a load resistance of 100 MΩ. More importantly, the TENG was capable of harvesting energy to power various light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and monitoring human movements as a self-powered sensor, providing a promising application prospect in wearable electronics.

Keywords: MXene; electrospun nanofiber mats; output performance; self-powered; triboelectric nanogenerator.