Surfactant-free GO-PLA nanocomposite with honeycomb patterned surface for high power antagonistic bio-triboelectric nanogenerator
Thu Ha Le, Uong Kim Giang, Đại Phú Huỳnh, Hà Trần Nguyên, Anh Tuan Luu, Van‐Tien Bui
Abstract
While triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) made of biomaterials are becoming significant components of self-charged monitoring healthcare systems, most of them show low output performance and poor durability. Herein, a surfactant-free graphene oxide-polylactic acid (GO/PLA) nanocomposite with customizable honeycomb patterns was, for the first time, prepared via a scalable two-step solution method to achieve a power-boosted biocompatible TENG. The first step of this method involved using a suitable solvent (such as dimethylformamide) to well disperse the GO nanoparticles into PLA. Subsequently, honeycomb patterns were induced by using a mixture of chloroform and methanol as a suitable volatile solvent/nonsolvent pair for improved phase separation. The results indicated that GO nanoparticles with large surface area and abundant electron-donating groups decorated the honeycomb patterns and significantly influenced the electro-positivity and surface properties of the PLA bio-polymer. An unprecedented antagonistic TENG (A-TENG) based on the concave-honeycomb GO-PLA (hc-GO/PLA) and its corresponding convex-polydimethylsiloxane (c-PDMS) form a pair of tribo-components with antagonistic friction surfaces and generate an output power of 3.25 mW, which is 13.6 times higher than that of a flat-surface TENG (f-TENG) without GO additives. We believe that the incorporation of functional GO nanoparticles without surfactants expands the potential applications of biocompatible A-TENG in healthcare areas thanks to its boosted output performance and persisting biocompatibility.