Flexible and High‐Performance Textile Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Efficient Droplet Energy Harvesting

With the rapid technology advancement and increasing demand for renewable energy sources, various energy harvesting methods have become efficient solutions. Water droplet‐based triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are among the newest approaches to harvesting energy from impinging water droplets; however, most existing designs remain inflexible. This study developed a completely flexible droplet‐based triboelectric nanogenerator (FD‐TENG), which consists of woven fabric made from silver‐coated nylon‐6 yarns as the rear electrode of the structure, aluminum tape as the top electrode, and fluorinated ethylene propylene film as the triboelectric material. A hydrophobic polyester (poly(ethylene terephthalate))‐coated fabric was incorporated to prevent the conductive woven fabric from becoming wet. The performance of the FD‐TENG was examined under different surface curvatures, demonstrating a minimum output voltage of 98 V, which highlights its high and stable performance. The contact mechanism between water droplets and the FD‐TENG was also investigated, focusing on different weave designs and the number of yarns per unit length in the weft direction of the conductive fabric. Other influential variables were also investigated, and the optimal output voltage and current of 231.5 V and 8.6 were obtained using a single unit of FD‐TENG and one impinging water droplet. The maximum power output of FD‐TENG reached ≈1 mW per each impinging droplet.