Geometrically versatile triboelectric yarn-based harvesters via carbon nanotubes-elastomer composites

Abstract

Recent advances in triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have made such devices promising candidates for the independent operation of ongoing wearable electronics owing to their generic advantages, such as simple fabrication, light weight, and flexibility. However, their utilization for harvesting mechanical energy driven by human activities in daily life particularly has disadvantages when introduced to everyday use that requires various geometrical versatility under diverse environmental conditions. Here, we investigate a freestanding onedimensional coaxial stretchable yarn TENG (1D CSY-TENG) with highly stretchable, water-resistant, and deformable characteristics. The integration of the 1D CSY-TENG into a scalable array-CSY-TENG (A-CSY-TENG) and textile-CSY-TENG (T-CSY-TENG) was tested to facilitate potential textile wearable products. The use of a highly stretchable 1D coaxial freestanding configuration provided the efficient energy conversion performance of the assembled T-CSY-TENG, despite being stretched over 100%, twisted, turned, and in strained states, along with maintaining performance even in water. Thus, suitable manipulation of geometrically versatile 1D free-standing coaxial configurations can aid the development of future TENG-integrated wearable applications.