Woven Structured Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Wearable Devices

TLDR

Wearable electronics are increasingly common, but limited battery life and storage capacity hinder their widespread adoption. The authors aim to address this limitation by demonstrating a woven‑structured triboelectric nanogenerator (W‑TENG) fabricated from commodity nylon, polyester, and conductive silver‑fiber fabrics. The W‑TENG is flexible, washable, breathable, and can be triggered by a freestanding triboelectric layer; it is integrated into shoes, coats, and trousers to harvest mechanical energy from human motion.

Abstract

To date, quite a few wearable electronics have entered the market, which are changing the life pattern of consumers. However, the limited lifetime and energy storage capacity have made rechargeable batteries the bottleneck in wearable technology, especially with the increase of number of wearable devices and their large distribution. To solve this problem, we demonstrate a woven-structured triboelectric nanogenerator (W-TENG) using commodity nylon fabric, polyester fabric, and conductive silver fiber fabric. With the advantage of being flexible, washable, breathable, wearable, and able to be triggered by a freestanding triboelectric layer, this W-TENG can move freely without any constraint and is suitable for wearable electronics. To demonstrate the potential applications of the W-TENG, the W-TENG is integrated into shoes, coats, and trousers to harvest different kinds of mechanical energy from human motion. This work presents a new approach in applying triboelectric nanogenerator to wearable devices.