A high-output triboelectric nanogenerator based on nickel-copper bimetallic hydroxide nanowrinkles for self-powered wearable electronics

The development of flexible wearable triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) has attracted great interest in the application of self-powered multifunctional electronic devices. However, the practical application of textile-based TENGs still faces numerous obstacles, such as low-output performance, high-cost, and complex structure. Herein, we reported a novel wearable TENG based on nickel-copper bimetallic hydroxide nanowrinkles (NC-TENG) to harvest the mechanical energy from human motion. The nickel-copper bimetallic hydroxide and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film form a triboelectric pair, which was grown on carbon cloth via a hydrothermal method. Owing to the nano-scale surface topography of nickel-copper bimetallic hydroxide nanowrinkles, the NC-TENG may achieve high-output performance. The maximum instantaneous V-oc and I-sc of NC-TENG (size: 1 cm x 1 cm) arrived at 328 V and 36.15 mu A, respectively. Besides, the maximum output power density achieved was 1.323 mW cm(-2), which is 13 times the electrical output of the TENG based on the carbon cloth and PTFE film. This study demonstrates the promising potential of a novel TENG for wearable electronics.