Versatile Core–Sheath Yarn for Sustainable Biomechanical Energy Harvesting and Real‐Time Human‐Interactive Sensing

TLDR

The emergence of stretchable textile‑based mechanical energy harvesters and self‑powered sensors offers new possibilities for wearable electronics, yet their progress is limited by single‑mode conversion and weak sensing. This work designs a highly stretchable yarn‑based triboelectric nanogenerator with a silver‑coated nylon core, silicone rubber sheath, and spring‑like spiral winding for biomechanical energy harvesting and real‑time human‑interactive sensing. The core–sheath and spiral structures enable the TENG to harvest or respond rapidly to compressing, stretching, bending, and twisting stimuli. Demonstrations include a self‑counting skipping rope, a gesture‑recognizing glove, a golf‑scoring system, and a large‑area fabric that lights LEDs, charges a capacitor, powers a smartwatch, and integrates four operational modes, highlighting its potential for sustainable power, wearable electronics, health monitoring, and human‑machine interaction.

Abstract

Abstract The emergence of stretchable textile‐based mechanical energy harvester and self‐powered active sensor brings a new life for wearable functional electronics. However, single energy conversion mode and weak sensing capabilities have largely hindered their development. Here, in virtue of silver‐coated nylon yarn and silicone rubber elastomer, a highly stretchable yarn‐based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with coaxial core–sheath and built‐in spring‐like spiral winding structures is designed for biomechanical energy harvesting and real‐time human‐interactive sensing. Based on the two advanced structural designs, the yarn‐based TENG can effectively harvest or respond rapidly to omnifarious external mechanical stimuli, such as compressing, stretching, bending, and twisting. With these excellent performances, the yarn‐based TENG can be used in a self‐counting skipping rope, a self‐powered gesture‐recognizing glove, and a real‐time golf scoring system. Furthermore, the yarn‐based TENG can also be woven into a large‐area energy‐harvesting fabric, which is capable of lighting up light emitting diodes (LEDs), charging a commercial capacitor, powering a smart watch, and integrating the four operational modes of TENGs together. This work provides a new direction for textile‐based multimode mechanical energy harvesters and highly sensitive self‐powered motion sensors with potential applications in sustainable power supplies, self‐powered wearable electronics, personalized motion/health monitoring, and real‐time human‐machine interactions.