Highly stretchable PTFE particle enhanced triboelectric nanogenerator for droplet energy harvestings
Changjun Yang, Yamei Wang, Yan Wang, Zehui Zhao, Liwen Zhang, Huawei Chen
Abstract
Liquid-solid based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) can be widely utilized for droplet energy harvesting , in which the hydrophobicity of triboelectric layer is crucial for output enhancement. However, poor mechanical properties of hydrophobic triboelectric layers prepared in classic methods greatly limit the TENG’s application. Here, a stretchable hydrophobic triboelectric nanogenerator (SH-TENG) with excellent output, and durability is devised by strongly bonding PTFE micro particles on a flexible substrate even under extreme stretching or abrasion. By synergistic enhancement of the PTFE particles on both contact-separation and charge-transfer between droplet and triboelectric layer, the transfer charge density of SH-TENG is increased to ∼4.74 × 10 −3 C/m 2 ·L, along with the open circuit voltage (V OC ) and short circuit current (I SC ) over 7 times and 6 times higher than TENG without PTFE modified, respectively. Moreover, under a stretching rate of 500%, the SH-TENG shows less 20% decline of its output performance to guarantee applications in flexible electronics. A miniature watch can be sufficiently powered by the SH-TENGs with total area of 0.016 m 2 under the simulated raindrop flow rate of 50 mL/min. With such outstanding performance and environmental adaptability, the SH-TENG can be integrated with various objects to collect droplet energy and supply electronic devices.