A Flexible Superhydrophobic MOF-Based Textile Triboelectric Nanogenerator with Multifunctions: Mechanical Energy Harvesting, Self-Powered Human Motion Sensing, and Human–Computer Interaction

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are an emerging type of micronanoenergy harvesting device capable of converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. However, due to the complexity and instability of the environment, the output efficiency of TENGs is severely compromised under high-humidity conditions. Therefore, a superhydrophobic composite fabric (HZC) was fabricated and employed as the tribo-positive material for constructing promising superhydrophobic wearable triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). A novel fabric substrate with superhydrophobic properties was successfully designed and prepared via a simple and easy-to-implement solution reaction; by incorporating metal-organic framework (MOF) materials into the fabric, the tribo-positive property of the fabric was enhanced, which ultimately led to an approximately 3-fold increase in the open-circuit voltage of the superhydrophobic composite fabric. Combined with the working principle of triboelectric nanogeneration, a high-efficiency, stable triboelectric nanogenerator with excellent hydrophobic performance was successfully developed, and this generator has been applied to self-powered human motion sensing and information transmission.