An all-fibrous triboelectric nanogenerator with enhanced outputs depended on the polystyrene charge storage layer

Electrospun fibers based-triboelectric nanogenerators (EF-TENGs) are considered to have a positive application prospect on wearable energy harvesters. However,the poor comfortable breathability and low output performance under weak force as the common problems which are associated with the EF-TENGs are the principal issue that impede the practical applications. Here, an improved EF-TENG with breathable-antibacterial electrode and electrostatic induction enhancement layer is proposed by introducing silver nanowires (AgNWs) as electrodes and electrospun polystyrene (PS) nanofibers as charge storage layer, respectively. Based on this, a highperformance all-fibrous materials-based triboelectric nanogenerator (AF-TENG) is successfully fabricated and investigated. A high output voltage 200 V and current density 70 mA/m2 was achieved with the work area of 90 mm2 and AF-TENG was demonstrated could charge the economical capacitor with 1 mu F to 2 V at a short time of 40 s under a continuous driven force and frequency at 1 Hz. Simultaneously, AF-TENG acts as a real-time force detective sensor integrated with normal fabrics also show excellent performance with a high signal-to-noise ratio. Based on these characteristics of AF-TENG verified above, this work is thought to inspire an effective ponder to the evolution of wearable energy harvester.

Automated summary

An improved EF-TENG with breathable-antibacterial electrode and electrostatic induction enhancement layer was proposed, and a high-performance all-fibrous materials-based triboelectric nanogenerator (AF-TENG) was successfully fabricated and investigated. The AF-TENG achieved a high output voltage of 200 V and current density of 70 mA/m2 within a work area of 90 mm2, and demonstrated excellent performance as a force detective sensor integrated with normal fabrics.