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Enhanced triboelectric output of PDMS-based composite film with bi-material filling and surface patterning

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Abstract

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are highly promising energy-harvesting devices that exhibit considerable potential for use in self-powered wearable electronics. Nano/microfillers and surface microstructure modification have been proposed to improve the triboelectric performance of TENGs. In this work, performance-enhanced flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was developed through bi-material (reduced graphene oxide/fluorinated ethylene propylene, rGO/FEP) modification and filtration-membrane-patterned surface microstructure. The rGO/FEP with high charge-inducing and -trapping capabilities can be used as the dielectric-enhanced filler for improving triboelectricity. Ordered micro-dents of 5–50 µm are created on the modified PDMS surface with an increased contact area of TENG. Compared with the pure PDMS, the modified PDMS film-based TENG could deliver a substantial enhancement in power density (0.87 mW cm−2) by 28 times. Further, the versatility of this device is demonstrated in human activity monitoring and capacitor charging. This work provided a simple, high-tunability, and scalable approach for improving the output performance of TENGs for biomechanical energy-harvesting devices that can be integrated into self-powering wearable electronics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Vehicle Power and Transmission System, Hunan Institute of Engineering, Xiangtan, 411104, China

    Sheng Liu, SiHua Liao, Dan Liu, Rong Zhao, Teng Zhou, WenYuan Yan, KeXiang Wei & HongXiang Zou

  2. State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    LinChuan Zhao

Authors
  1. Sheng Liu
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  2. SiHua Liao
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  3. Dan Liu
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  4. Rong Zhao
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  5. Teng Zhou
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  6. WenYuan Yan
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  7. KeXiang Wei
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  8. HongXiang Zou
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  9. LinChuan Zhao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to HongXiang Zou.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51902104 and 12172127) and the Key Project of Scientific Research Project of Hunan Provincial Department of Education (Grant Nos. 22A0515 and 21A0463).

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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.

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Liu, S., Liao, S., Liu, D. et al. Enhanced triboelectric output of PDMS-based composite film with bi-material filling and surface patterning. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 66, 2930–2941 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-023-2446-1

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