Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Smart textile triboelectric nanogenerators: Current status and perspectives

  • Review Article
  • Published:
MRS Bulletin Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Textile triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is a kind of smart textile technology that integrates traditional flexible and wearable textile materials with emerging and advanced TENG science, which not only embraces the capabilities of autonomous energy harvesting and active self-powered sensing, but also maintains original wearability and desired comfortability. With the help of the burden-free and self-sufficient wearable intelligent system, individuals can achieve convenient acquisition and efficient utilization of electric energy, which will help to promote the future development of human-oriented on-body electronics and artificial intelligence. Here, some fundamental knowledge and core elements, including the operational modes and corresponding service occasions, charge generation and transfer mechanisms, remaining challenges and potential solutions are comprehensively summarized and systematically discussed. Based on these analyses, a roadmap toward the scientific research and large-scale commercial application of textile TENGs in the next decade is highlighted at the end of the article. We believe that textile TENGs will become an indispensable part of daily clothing in the future, thus benefiting all humankind and human civilization.

Graphic abstract

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

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4

© 2015 American Chemical Society. (ii) 2D in-plane sliding fabric TENG. Reprinted with permission from Reference 32. © 2016 Wiley. (iii) 3D orthogonal woven TENG. Reprinted with permission from Reference 33. © 2017 Wiley. (iv) 3D braided TENG. Reprinted with permission from Reference 34. © 2020 Nature Publishing Group. (b) Expanding self-powered sensing application scopes. (i) Pulse monitoring fiber TENG. Reprinted with permission from Reference 35. © 2014 American Chemical Society. (ii) Golf scoring fiber TENG. Reprinted with permission from Reference 36. © 2018 Wiley. (iii) Physiological monitoring fabric TENG. Reprinted with permission from Reference 37. © 2020 AAAS. (iv) Identity recognition fabric TENG. Reprinted with permission from Reference 38. © 2020 Nature Publishing Group. (c) Achieving better wearability and more functionalities. (i) Machine washable fabric TENG. Reprinted with permission from Reference 39. © 2016 Wiley. (ii) Light-emitting fabric TENG. Reprinted with permission from Reference 41. © 2019 American Chemical Society. (iii) Biodegradable and antibacterial nanofiber TENG. Reprinted with permission from Reference 42. © 2020 AAAS. (iv) Flame-retardant fabric TENG. Reprinted with permission from Reference 43. © 2020 American Chemical Society. (d) Integrating energy harvesting with energy storage. (i) 2D self-charging power woven fabric. Reprinted with permission from Reference 44. © 2015 Wiley. (ii) Self-charging fiber unit with various energy harvesting forms. Reprinted with permission from Reference 45. © 2016 AAAS. (iii) Self-charging knitting power fabric. Reprinted with permission from Reference 46. © 2017 American Chemical Society. (iv) 2D coplanar self-charging fabric. Reprinted with permission from Reference 47. © 2020 American Chemical Society. (e) Matching high performance with mature production. (i) 3D spacer knitting technique. Reprinted with permission from Reference 48. © 2016 Elsevier. (ii) Melt-spinning method. Reprinted with permission from Reference 49. © 2019 Nature Publishing Group. (iii) Electrospinning technique. Reprinted with permission from Reference 50. © 2020 American Chemical Society. (iv) Thermal drawing technology. Reprinted with permission from Reference 52. © 2020 Nature Publishing Group.

Figure 5

© 2017 Wiley. Reprinted with permission from Reference 68. © 2020 Nature Publishing Group. Reprinted with permission from Reference 69. © 2019 American Chemical Society. Reprinted with permission from Reference 45. © 2016 AAAS. Reprinted with permission from Reference 70. © 2020 Elsevier.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Z.L. Wang, T. Jiang, L. Xu, Nano Energy 39, 9 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. P.-C. Hsu, X. Li, Science 370(6518), 784 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. W. He, C. Wang, H. Wang, M. Jian, Y. Zhang, Sci. Adv. 5(11), eaax0649 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. K. Dong, X. Peng, Z.L. Wang, Adv. Mater. 32(5), 1902549 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. R. Torah, J. Lawrie-Ashton, Y. Li, S. Arumugam, H.A. Sodano, S. Beeby, MRS Bull. 43(3), 214 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. M. Stoppa, A. Chiolerio, Sensors (Basel) 14(7), 11957 (2014)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. C. Ning, K. Dong, R. Cheng, J. Yi, C. Ye, X. Peng, F. Sheng, Y. Jiang, Z.L. Wang, Adv. Funct. Mater. 31(4), 2006679 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. K. Dong, Z. Wu, J. Deng, A.C. Wang, H. Zou, C. Chen, D. Hu, B. Gu, B. Sun, Z.L. Wang, Adv. Mater. 30(43), e1804944 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. T. Khudiyev, J.T. Lee, J.R. Cox, E. Argentieri, G. Loke, R. Yuan, G.H. Noel, R. Tatara, Y. Yu, F. Logan, J. Joannopoulos, Y. Shao-Horn, Y. Fink, Adv. Mater. 32(49), 2004971 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. A. Levitt, D. Hegh, P. Phillips, S. Uzun, G. Dion, Mater. Today 34, 17 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. X. Tian, P.M. Lee, Y.J. Tan, T.L.Y. Wu, H. Yao, M. Zhang, Z. Li, K.A. Ng, B.C.K. Tee, J.S. Ho, Nat. Electron. 2(6), 243 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Y. Jiang, K. Dong, X. Li, J. An, D. Wu, X. Peng, J. Yi, C. Ning, R. Cheng, P. Yu, Z.L. Wang, Adv. Funct. Mater. 31(1), 2005584 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. C.S. Haines, M.D. Lima, N. Li, G.M. Spinks, J. Foroughi, J.D.W. Madden, S.H. Kim, S. Fang, M. Jung de Andrade, F. Göktepe, Ö. Göktepe, S.M. Mirvakili, S. Naficy, X. Lepró, J. Oh, M.E. Kozlov, S.J. Kim, X. Xu, B.J. Swedlove, G.G. Wallace, R.H. Baughman, Science 343(6173), 868 (2014)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. P. Chen, Y. Xu, S. He, X. Sun, S. Pan, J. Deng, D. Chen, H. Peng, Nat. Nanotechnol. 10(12), 1077 (2015)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Q. Shan, C. Wei, Y. Jiang, J. Song, Y. Zou, L. Xu, T. Fang, T. Wang, Y. Dong, J. Liu, Light Sci. Appl. 9(1), 163 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. C. Lu, S. Park, T.J. Richner, A. Derry, I. Brown, C. Hou, S. Rao, J. Kang, C.T. Mortiz, Y. Fink, Sci. Adv. 3(3), e1600955 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Z. Zhang, K. Guo, Y. Li, X. Li, G. Guan, H. Li, Y. Luo, F. Zhao, Q. Zhang, B. Wei, Nat. Photonics 9(4), 233 (2015)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. S. Kwon, Y.H. Hwang, M. Nam, H. Chae, H.S. Lee, Y. Jeon, S. Lee, C.Y. Kim, S. Choi, E.G. Jeong, K.C. Choi, Adv. Mater. 32(5), 1903488 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Z. Zhang, L. Cui, X. Shi, X. Tian, D. Wang, C. Gu, E. Chen, X. Cheng, Y. Xu, Y. Hu, J. Zhang, L. Zhou, H.H. Fong, P. Ma, G. Jiang, X. Sun, B. Zhang, H. Peng, Adv. Mater. 30(18), 1800323 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. M. Štaffová, F. Kučera, J. Tocháček, P. Dzik, F. Ondreáš, J. Jančář, J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 138(4), 49724 (2021)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Y. Hu, Z. Zheng, Nano Energy 56, 16 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. J. Luo, Z.L. Wang, EcoMat 2(4), e12059 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. S. Niu, Z.L. Wang, Nano Energy 14, 161 (2015)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Z.L. Wang, Faraday Discuss. 176, 447 (2014)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. C. Xu, Y. Zi, A.C. Wang, H. Zou, Y. Dai, X. He, P. Wang, Y.C. Wang, P. Feng, D. Li, Z.L. Wang, Adv. Mater. 30(15), e1706790 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. A.C. Wang, B. Zhang, C. Xu, H. Zou, Z. Lin, Z.L. Wang, Adv. Funct. Mater. 30(12), 1909384 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. S. Lin, L. Xu, A.C. Wang, Z.L. Wang, Nat. Commun. 11(1), 399 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. T. Cheng, Q. Gao, Z.L. Wang, Adv. Mater. Technol. 4(3), 1800588 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. F.R. Fan, L. Lin, G. Zhu, W. Wu, R. Zhang, Z.L. Wang, Nano Lett. 12(6), 3109 (2012)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Z.Y. Zhong J , Zhong Q , Hu Q, Hu B, Wang Z. L, Zhou J. ACS Nano 8(6), 6273 (2014).

  31. K.N. Kim, J. Chun, J.W. Kim, K.Y. Lee, J.-U. Park, S.-W. Kim, Z.L. Wang, J.M. Baik, ACS Nano 9(6), 6394 (2015)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. X. Pu, W. Song, M. Liu, C. Sun, C. Du, C. Jiang, X. Huang, D. Zou, W. Hu, Z.L. Wang, Adv. Energy Mater. 6(20), 1601048 (2016)

  33. K. Dong, J. Deng, Y. Zi, Y.C. Wang, C. Xu, H. Zou, W. Ding, Y. Dai, B. Gu, B. Sun, Z.L. Wang, Adv. Mater. 29(38), 1702648 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. K. Dong, X. Peng, J. An, A.C. Wang, J. Luo, B. Sun, J. Wang, Z.L. Wang, Nat. Commun. 11(1), 2868 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. J. Zhong, Y. Zhang, Q. Zhong, Q. Hu, B. Hu, Z.L. Wang, J. Zhou, ACS Nano 8(6), 6273 (2014)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. K. Dong, J. Deng, W. Ding, A.C. Wang, P. Wang, C. Cheng, Y.-C. Wang, L. Jin, B. Gu, B. Sun, Z.L. Wang, Adv. Energy Mater. 8(23), 1801114 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. W. Fan, Q. He, K. Meng, X. Tan, Z. Zhou, G. Zhang, J. Yang, Z.L. Wang, Sci. Adv. 6(11), eaay2840 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Q. Shi, Z. Zhang, T. He, Z. Sun, B. Wang, Y. Feng, X. Shan, B. Salam, C. Lee, Nat. Commun. 11, 4609 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Z. Zhao, C. Yan, Z. Liu, X. Fu, L.M. Peng, Y. Hu, Z. Zheng, Adv. Mater. 28(46), 10267 (2016)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Z. Zhao, Q. Huang, C. Yan, Y. Liu, X. Zeng, X. Wei, Y. Hu, Z. Zheng, Nano Energy 70, 104528 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. H.J. Park, S. Kim, J.H. Lee, H.T. Kim, W. Seung, Y. Son, T.Y. Kim, U. Khan, N.M. Park, S.W. Kim, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 11(5), 5200 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. X. Peng, K. Dong, C. Ye, Y. Jiang, Z.L. Wang, Sci. Adv. 6(26), eaba9624 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. R. Cheng, K. Dong, L. Liu, C. Ning, P. Chen, X. Peng, D. Liu, Z.L. Wang, ACS Nano 14(11), 15853 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. X. Pu, L. Li, H. Song, C. Du, Z. Zhao, C. Jiang, G. Cao, W. Hu, Z.L. Wang, Adv. Mater. 27(15), 2472 (2015)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Z. Wen, M.H. Yeh, H. Guo, J. Wang, Y. Zi, W. Xu, J. Deng, L. Zhu, X. Wang, C. Hu, Sci. Adv. 2(10), e1600097 (2016)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. K. Dong, Y.C. Wang, J. Deng, Y. Dai, S.L. Zhang, H. Zou, B. Gu, B. Sun, Z.L. Wang, ACS Nano 11(9), 9490 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. Z. Cong, W. Guo, Z. Guo, Y. Chen, Z.L. Wang, ACS Nano 14(5), 5590 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. M. Zhu, Y. Huang, W.S. Ng, J. Liu, Z. Wang, Z. Wang, H. Hu, C. Zhi, Nano Energy 27, 439 (2016)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. W. Gong, C. Hou, J. Zhou, Y. Guo, W. Zhang, Y. Li, Q. Zhang, H. Wang, Nat. Commun. 10(1), 868 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. L. Ma, M. Zhou, R. Wu, A. Patil, H. Gong, S. Zhu, T. Wang, Y. Zhang, S. Shen, K. Dong, L. Yang, J. Wang, W. Guo, Z.L. Wang, ACS Nano 14(4), 4716 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  51. Z. Feng, S. Yang, S. Jia, Y. Zhang, S. Jiang, L. Yu, R. Li, G. Song, A. Wang, T. Martin, L. Zuo, X. Jia, Nano Energy 74, 104805 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  52. C. Dong, A. Leber, T. Das Gupta, R. Chandran, M. Volpi, Y. Qu, T. Nguyen-Dang, N. Bartolomei, W. Yan, F. Sorin, Nat. Commun. 11(1), 3537 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  53. L. Wang, X. Fu, J. He, X. Shi, T. Chen, P. Chen, B. Wang, H. Peng, Adv. Mater. 32(5), 1901971 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  54. Z.L. Wang, A.C. Wang, Mater. Today 30, 34 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  55. S. Lin, L. Xu, C. Xu, X. Chen, A.C. Wang, B. Zhang, P. Lin, Y. Yang, H. Zhao, Z.L. Wang, Adv. Mater. 31(17), 1808197 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  56. M. Tebyetekerwa, I. Marriam, Z. Xu, S. Yang, H. Zhang, F. Zabihi, R. Jose, S. Peng, M. Zhu, S. Ramakrishna, Energy Environ. Sci. 12(7), 2148 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. H. Zou, Y. Zhang, L. Guo, P. Wang, X. He, G. Dai, H. Zheng, C. Chen, A.C. Wang, C. Xu, Z.L. Wang, Nat. Commun. 10(1), 1427 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  58. Y. Zi, S. Niu, J. Wang, Z. Wen, W. Tang, Z.L. Wang, Nat. Commun. 6(1), 8376 (2015)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  59. J. Shao, M. Willatzen, T. Jiang, W. Tang, X. Chen, J. Wang, Z.L. Wang, Nano Energy 59, 380 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  60. X. Li, G. Xu, X. Xia, J. Fu, L. Huang, Y. Zi, Nano Energy 56, 40 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  61. G. Zhu, J. Chen, T. Zhang, Q. Jing, Z.L. Wang, Nat. Commun. 5, 3426 (2014)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  62. X. Pu, M. Liu, L. Li, C. Zhang, Y. Pang, C. Jiang, L. Shao, W. Hu, Z.L. Wang, Adv. Sci. 3(1), 1500255 (2016)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  63. S. Niu, X. Wang, F. Yi, Y.S. Zhou, Z.L. Wang, Nat. Commun. 6, 8975 (2015)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  64. X. Cheng, L. Miao, Y. Song, Z. Su, H. Chen, X. Chen, J. Zhang, H. Zhang, Nano Energy 38, 438 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  65. Y. Zi, J. Wang, S. Wang, S. Li, Z. Wen, H. Guo, Z.L. Wang, Nat. Commun. 7, 10987 (2016)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  66. W. Liu, Z. Wang, G. Wang, Q. Zeng, W. He, L. Liu, X. Wang, Y. Xi, H. Guo, C. Hu, Z.L. Wang, Nat. Commun. 11(1), 1883 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  67. C. Wu, A.C. Wang, W. Ding, H. Guo, Z.L. Wang, Adv. Energy Mater. 9(1), 1802906 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  68. Z. Zhang, T. He, M. Zhu, Z. Sun, Q. Shi, J. Zhu, B. Dong, M.R. Yuce, C. Lee, npj Flex. Electron. 4(1), 29 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  69. J. Zhao, W. Zhu, X. Wang, L. Liu, J. Yu, B. Ding, ACS Nano 14(1), 1045 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  70. N. Zhang, F. Huang, S. Zhao, X. Lv, Y. Zhou, S. Xiang, S. Xu, Y. Li, G. Chen, C. Tao, Y. Nie, J. Chen, X. Fan, Matter 2(5), 1260 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the support received from the National Key R&D Project from Minister of Science and Technology (Grant No. 2016YFA0202704), the Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 2212052), the Shanghai Sailing Program (Grant No. 19S28101), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 19D128102).

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Kai Dong, Weiguo Hu & Zhong Lin Wang

  2. Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, Department of Electronics, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Youfan Hu

  3. Department of Optoelectronic Engineering, Chongqing University, Shapingba, China

    Jin Yang

  4. School of Advanced Materials Sciences & Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon, Republic of Korea

    Sang-Woo Kim

  5. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Zhong Lin Wang

Authors
  1. Kai Dong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Youfan Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jin Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Sang-Woo Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Weiguo Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Zhong Lin Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhong Lin Wang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dong, K., Hu, Y., Yang, J. et al. Smart textile triboelectric nanogenerators: Current status and perspectives. MRS Bulletin 46, 512–521 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43577-021-00123-2

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/s43577-021-00123-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation