Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A stretchable triboelectric generator with coplanar integration design of energy harvesting and strain sensing

  • Article
  • Published:
Science China Technological Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The rapid development of flexible triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) has become an alternative to batteries for wearable devices. Stretchable, multifunctional, and low-cost are the primary development directions for these wearable devices based on TENG. Herein, a stretchable triboelectric generator with coplanar integration was designed for energy harvesting and force sensing. The industrial conductive silicone and silicone were used to fabricate the TENG with a thickness of less than 0.9 mm. When the elongation was less than 150%, TENG exhibited excellent linear characteristics in the resistance-tensile strain correspondence, and the coefficient of determination was 0.99. This stretchable TENG with a sufficient contact area of 9 cm2 could generate a short-circuit current of 2 μA when it was in contact with the skin. Lastly, an intelligent tension monitoring wearable device that can effectively measure the tensile force was developed. Such a stretchable, coplanar integration-based, and low-cost wearable device has excellent applicability in wearable electronics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Lee J, Kwon H, Seo J, et al. Conductive fiber-based ultrasensitive textile pressure sensor for wearable electronics. Adv Mater, 2015, 27: 2433–2439

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Li G, Hong G, Dong D, et al. Multiresponsive graphene-aerogel-directed phase-change smart fibers. Adv Mater, 2018, 30: 1801754

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Stoppa M, Chiolerio A. Wearable electronics and smart textiles: A critical review. Sensors, 2014, 14: 11957–11992

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Wang D, Li D, Zhao M, et al. Multifunctional wearable smart device based on conductive reduced graphene oxide/polyester fabric. Appl Surf Sci, 2018, 454: 218–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Li H, Sinha T K, Oh J S, et al. Soft and flexible bilayer thermoplastic polyurethane foam for development of bioinspired artificial skin. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2018, 10: 14008–14016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Shin D W, Barnes M D, Walsh K, et al. A new facile route to flexible and semi-transparent electrodes based on water exfoliated graphene and their single-electrode triboelectric nanogenerator. Adv Mater, 2018, 30: 1802953

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Magno M, Brunelli D, Sigrist L, et al. Infinitime: Multi-sensor wearable bracelet with human body harvesting. Sust Comput-Inf Syst, 2016, 11: 38–49

    Google Scholar 

  8. Song Y, Wang H, Cheng X, et al. High-efficiency self-charging smart bracelet for portable electronics. Nano Energy, 2019, 55: 29–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Xiao N, Yu W, Han X. Wearable heart rate monitoring intelligent sports bracelet based on internet of things. Measurement, 2020, 164: 108102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Zhang Z, Song Y, Cui L, et al. Emotion recognition based on customized smart bracelet with built-in accelerometer. PeerJ, 2016, 4: e2258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Li Y, Xu G, Cui C, et al. Flexible and semitransparent organic solar cells. Adv Energy Mater, 2018, 8: 1701791

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Yi F, Wang X, Niu S, et al. A highly shape-adaptive, stretchable design based on conductive liquid for energy harvesting and self-powered biomechanical monitoring. Sci Adv, 2016, 2: e1501624

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Wang S, Ding L, Fan X, et al. A liquid metal-based triboelectric nanogenerator as stretchable electronics for safeguarding and self-powered mechanosensing. Nano Energy, 2018, 53: 863–870

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Yang Y, Sun N, Wen Z, et al. Liquid-metal-based super-stretchable and structure-designable triboelectric nanogenerator for wearable electronics. ACS Nano, 2018, 12: 2027–2034

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Zhang B, Zhang L, Deng W, et al. Self-powered acceleration sensor based on liquid metal triboelectric nanogenerator for vibration monitoring. ACS Nano, 2017, 11: 7440–7446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Lee B Y, Kim S U, Kang S, et al. Transparent and flexible high power triboelectric nanogenerator with metallic nanowire-embedded tribo-negative conducting polymer. Nano Energy, 2018, 53: 152–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Wang J, Lin M F, Park S, et al. Deformable conductors for human-machine interface. Mater Today, 2018, 21: 508–526

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Wang Y, Wang H L, Li H Y, et al. Enhanced high-resolution triboelectrification-induced electroluminescence for self-powered visualized interactive sensing. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2019, 11: 13796–13802

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Zhao S, Li J, Cao D, et al. Recent advancements in flexible and stretchable electrodes for electromechanical sensors: Strategies, materials, and features. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2017, 9: 12147–12164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Luo J, Wang Z L. Recent advances in triboelectric nanogenerator based self-charging power systems. Energy Storage Mater, 2019, 23: 617–628

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Liu Z, Li H, Shi B, et al. Wearable and implantable triboelectric nanogenerators. Adv Funct Mater, 2019, 29: 1808820

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Tang W, Chen B D, Wang Z L. Recent progress in power generation from water/liquid droplet interaction with solid surfaces. Adv Funct Mater, 2019, 29: 1901069

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Yang Y, Zhang H, Chen J, et al. Single-electrode-based sliding triboelectric nanogenerator for self-powered displacement vector sensor system. ACS Nano, 2013, 7: 7342–7351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Liu H, Wang H, Lyu Y, et al. A novel triboelectric nanogenerator based on carbon fiber reinforced composite lamina and as a self-powered displacement sensor. Microelectron Eng, 2020, 224: 111231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Zhang X, Zheng Y, Wang D, et al. Solid-liquid triboelectrification in smart U-tube for multifunctional sensors. Nano Energy, 2017, 40: 95–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Chen Y, Wang Y C, Zhang Y, et al. Elastic-beam triboelectric nano-generator for high-performance multifunctional applications: Sensitive scale, acceleration/force/vibration sensor, and intelligent keyboard. Adv Energy Mater, 2018, 8: 1802159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Liu C, Wang Y, Zhang N, et al. A self-powered and high sensitivity acceleration sensor with V-Q-a model based on triboelectric nano-generators (TENGs). Nano Energy, 2020, 67: 104228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Quan T, Wang Z L, Yang Y. A shared-electrode-based hybridized electromagnetic-triboelectric nanogenerator. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2016, 8: 19573–19578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Zhang H, Yang Y, Su Y, et al. Triboelectric nanogenerator for harvesting vibration energy in full space and as self-powered acceleration sensor. Adv Funct Mater, 2014, 24: 1401–1407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Wang S, Niu S, Yang J, et al. Quantitative measurements of vibration amplitude using a contact-mode freestanding triboelectric nanogenerator. ACS Nano, 2014, 8: 12004–12013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Lv S, Yu B, Huang T, et al. Gas-enhanced triboelectric nanogenerator based on fully-enclosed structure for energy harvesting and sensing. Nano Energy, 2019, 55: 463–469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Xu M, Wang P, Wang Y C, et al. A soft and robust spring based triboelectric nanogenerator for harvesting arbitrary directional vibration energy and self-powered vibration sensing. Adv Energy Mater, 2018, 8: 1702432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Ahmed A, Hassan I, Zu J. Design guidelines of stretchable pressure sensors-based triboelectrification. Adv Eng Mater, 2018, 20: 1700997

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Dong K, Wu Z, Deng J, et al. A stretchable yarn embedded triboelectric nanogenerator as electronic skin for biomechanical energy harvesting and multifunctional pressure sensing. Adv Mater, 2018, 30: 1804944

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Jeong J B, Kim H, Yoo J I. Triboelectric touch sensor for position mapping during total hip arthroplasty. BMC Res Notes, 2020, 13: 395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Liu S, Li Y, Guo W, et al. Triboelectric nanogenerators enabled sensing and actuation for robotics. Nano Energy, 2019, 65: 104005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Ejehi F, Mohammadpour R, Asadian E, et al. Graphene oxide papers in nanogenerators for self-powered humidity sensing by finger tapping. Sci Rep, 2020, 10: 7312

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Farahani E, Mohammadpour R. Fabrication of flexible self-powered humidity sensor based on super-hydrophilic titanium oxide nanotube arrays. Sci Rep, 2020, 10: 13032

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Sun C, Shi Q, Hasan D, et al. Self-powered multifunctional monitoring system using hybrid integrated triboelectric nanogenerators and piezoelectric microsensors. Nano Energy, 2019, 58: 612–623

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Zhang D, Xu Z, Yang Z, et al. High-performance flexible self-powered tin disulfide nanoflowers/reduced graphene oxide nanohybrid-based humidity sensor driven by triboelectric nanogenerator. Nano Energy, 2020, 67: 104251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Guo H, Pu X, Chen J, et al. A highly sensitive, self-powered tribo-electric auditory sensor for social robotics and hearing aids. Sci Robot, 2018, 3: eaat2516

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Ji X, Zhao T, Zhao X, et al. Triboelectric nanogenerator based smart electronics via machine learning. Adv Mater Technol, 2020, 5: 1900921

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Wang L, Ding T, Wang P, et al. Influence of carbon black concentration on piezoresistivity for carbon-black-filled silicone rubber composite. Carbon, 2009, 47: 3151–3157

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Science and Technology on Electronic Test and Measurement Laboratory, North University of China, Taiyuan, 030051, China

    Bin Wu, ZengXing Zhang, XiaoBin Xue, CongCong Hao, WenJun Zhang, RuiYu Bi, Qiang Wang & ChenYang Xue

Authors
  1. Bin Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. ZengXing Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. XiaoBin Xue
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. CongCong Hao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. WenJun Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. RuiYu Bi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Qiang Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. ChenYang Xue
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to ChenYang Xue.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2019YFB2004800), National Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of China (Grant No. 61525107), and National Natural Science Foundation for China as National Major Scientific Instruments Development Project (Grant No. 61727806).

Supporting Information

The supporting information is available online at https://tech.scichina.com and https://link.springer.com. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

Supporting Information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wu, B., Zhang, Z., Xue, X. et al. A stretchable triboelectric generator with coplanar integration design of energy harvesting and strain sensing. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 65, 221–230 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-020-1808-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-020-1808-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation