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A chitosan/amido-graphene oxide-based self-powered humidity sensor enabled by triboelectric effect

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Abstract

In this work, amido-graphene oxide (GO-NH2) loaded chitosan (CTS) composite material (CTS/GO-NH2) that acts as both the triboelectric and sensing film was prepared on rotary fan-shaped triboelectric nanogenerator for humidity detection. Compared with the pristine CTS-based triboelectric humidity sensor (CTS-THS) and GO-NH2-THS, the CTS/GO-NH2-based humidity sensor exhibited higher humidity response and better linearity in the relative humidity (RH) range of 18.7%RH–91.5%RH. The above results can be explained by the massive exposed and less concealed hydrophilic functional groups of CTS with the help of the wrinkle structure of GO-NH2. Meanwhile, the CTS/GO-NH2-THS possessed good repeatability and acceptable hysteresis (~ 6.2%RH). Finally, a humidity sensing mechanism coupling triboelectric contact charging effect with electrons transfer principle under moisture environment was established to interpret the enhanced humidity sensing performance of the composite film-based THS. This work demonstrates that CTS/GO-NH2 composite film can be utilized to fabricate humidity sensors based on the triboelectric effect.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. U19A2070), the National Science Funds for Excellent Young Scholars of China (No. 61822106) and the National Science Funds for Creative Research Groups of China (No. 61421002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, School of Optoelectronic Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, China

    Bo-Hao Liu, Guang-Zhong Xie, Cheng-Zhen Li, Si Wang, Zhen Yuan, Zai-Hua Duan, Ya-Dong Jiang & Hui-Ling Tai

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  1. Bo-Hao Liu
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  2. Guang-Zhong Xie
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Correspondence to Hui-Ling Tai.

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Liu, BH., Xie, GZ., Li, CZ. et al. A chitosan/amido-graphene oxide-based self-powered humidity sensor enabled by triboelectric effect. Rare Met. 40, 1995–2003 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-020-01645-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-020-01645-5

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