Humidity-resistant, durable, wearable single-electrode triboelectric nanogenerator for mechanical energy harvesting

With the rapid development of wearable, flexible, and portable electronic devices, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) as a possible power source with the features of miniature and flexibility have attracted tremendous research interest. In this respect, we prepared a stretchable and shape-adaptive silicone rubber-based triboelectric nanogenerator, with MoS2/GO in the friction layer to capture electrons. It is found that a large number of micropores are generated in the silicone rubber matrix, providing more sites for charge generation. In addition, the rough surface led to a greater contact area for harvesting environmental mechanical energy more effectively. By optimizing the fabrication process, the TENG displays output voltage, current density, and average power density up to ∼200 V, ∼25 μA, and ∼1.3 mW, respectively in single-electrode mode. In addition, it has good flexibility and water resistance and can be worn on skin or cloth to harvest energy from different body motions. Therefore, the device in this work with enhanced power output, stability, and portability is suitable for practical application to power wearable electronic devices from manual activities.Graphical abstractA robust and novel textile-TENG for energy harvest was developed, which is constructed from the flexible conducting textile and MoS2/RGO doped super-soft silicone rubber. The resulting film possesses good triboelectric performance and has the ability to harvest energy from different human motions. We found that the obtained TENG shows portable, lightweight, and sustainable properties, indicating its promising potential for applications in flexible and miniaturized green electronics.