Wearable Single-Electrode-Mode Triboelectric Nanogenerator via Conductive Polymer-Coated Textiles for Self-Power Electronics

Flexible and interlaced-designed triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are acquiring enormous research interest due to their facile fabrication techniques and easy employment as a power source for wearable/portable electronic devices. Herein, we proposed polypyrrole (PPy)-based flexible and wearable TENGs with excellent electrical output performance and robustness. The flexible interlaced microfibrous mesh cotton fabric was used as a support frame to deposit PPy by an in situ chemical polymerization process. Such PPy-coated cotton textile (PPy@CT) was utilized as an electrode to construct a single-electrode-mode TENG. Furthermore, a sandpaper-assisted microtextured polydimethylsiloxane layer was developed on the top of PPy@CT via a simple soft-imprint lithography technique, and it was employed as a tribo-negative friction layer of TENG. The resultant PPy-based wearable single-electrode-mode TENG (PPy-WSEM-TENG) device can efficiently convert the mechanical energy into electricity while making continuous contacts/separations with counter friction objects like dialysis cellulose membrane and human skin (i.e., tribo-positive friction layers). Moreover, the influence of an external pressing force and load resistance on the electrical output performance of PPy-WSEM-TENG was analyzed. This device exhibited robust characteristics even after long-term cyclic operations and also generated an electrical output by gently touching with the human hand. For commercial applications, the as-fabricated PPy-WSEM-TENG was effectively employed as a self-powered source to drive portable electronic devices as well as light-emitting diodes.