Self-powered microbial blocking textile driven by triboelectric charges

Conventional methods of protecting against airborne pathogens, such as face masks, are typically associated with significant pressure loss and uncomfortable long-term wear. Alternative methods, such as antimicrobial textiles, can utilize nanomaterial-modified functional fabrics for effective microbial prevention, but suffer from limited treatment throughput, high cost, and potential toxicity from nanomaterial release. Herein, we develop a novel microbial-blocking textile using fabrics with opposite triboelectric properties of the outer and inner layers, which induces triboelectric charges by harvesting kinetic energy from human motion. The induced triboelectric negative charges at the outer textile layer achieve efficient airborne pathogen blocking based on electrostatic repulsion between the fabric and microbes. This self-powered, triboelectrification-induced microbial blocking system with optimized material (PTFE and nylon) and structure (rib knitted) achieves highly efficient microbial blocking (>95%) at a very high airflow rate of 2.0 m/s. In addition, the pressure drop for microbial blocking by this novel method is extremely low (<30 Pa). Our results demonstrate a promising method for rapid, self-powered blocking of airborne pathogens by incorporating triboelectric charges from human motion to meet vital public health needs.