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Transparent, stretchable, temperature-stable and self-healing ionogel-based triboelectric nanogenerator for biomechanical energy collection

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Abstract

A flexible and stable power supply is essential to the rapid development of wearable electronic devices. In this work, a transparent, flexible, temperature-stable and ionogel electrode-based self-healing triboelectric nanogenerator (IS-TENG) was developed. The ionogel with excellent stretchability (1,012%), high ionic conductivity (0.3 S·m−1) and high-temperature stability (temperature range of −77 to 250 °C) was used as the electrode of the IS-TENG. The IS-TENG exhibited excellent transparency (92.1%) and stability. The output performance did not decrease when placed in a 60 °C oven for 48 h. In addition, the IS-TENG behaved like a stable output in the range of −20 to 60 °C. More importantly, the IS-TENG could also achieve self-healing of electrical performance at temperatures between −20 and 60 °C and its output can be restored to its original state after healing. When the single-electrode IS-TENG with an area of 3 cm × 3 cm was conducted under the working frequency of 1.5 Hz, the output values for open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, short-circuit transferred charge, and maximum peak power density were 189 V, 6.2 µA, 57 nC, and 2.17 W·m−2, respectively. The IS-TENG enables to harvest biomechanical energy, and drive electronic devices. Furthermore, the application of IS-TENGs as self-driven sensors for detecting human behavior was also demonstrated, showing good application prospects in the field of wearable power technology and self-driven sensing.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51605109 and 61804103), the Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (Nos. 2018GXNSFBA281052 and 2018GXNSFAA281296) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Nos. 2017M610346 and 2021T140494). The authors also acknowledge the support from the Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science & Technology, the 111 Project and Joint International Research Laboratory of Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices.

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  1. Weiqiang Liao and Xiukun Liu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Nonferrous Metals and Materials, Ministry of Education, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541004, China

    Weiqiang Liao, Xiukun Liu, Yuqi Li, Xu Xu & Shaorong Lu

  2. Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China

    Jinxing Jiang, Dequan Bao, Zhen Wen & Xuhui Sun

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  1. Weiqiang Liao
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  2. Xiukun Liu
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  4. Xu Xu
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  8. Zhen Wen
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Correspondence to Yuqi Li, Zhen Wen or Xuhui Sun.

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Transparent, stretchable, temperature-stable and self-healing ionogel-based triboelectric nanogenerator for biomechanical energy collection

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Liao, W., Liu, X., Li, Y. et al. Transparent, stretchable, temperature-stable and self-healing ionogel-based triboelectric nanogenerator for biomechanical energy collection. Nano Res. 15, 2060–2068 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3797-x

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