Aligning graphene sheets in PDMS for improving output performance of triboelectric nanogenerator

In this paper, aligned graphene sheets (AGS) embedded in PDMS (AGS@PDMS) has been prepared by repeated spin-coating (SC) technique. The triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) based on the AGS@PDMS film is fabricated and its electric output is investigated systematically with different contents of filling graphene sheets and different spin-coating layers. The PDMS embedded with AGS is compared with that of disordered graphene sheets and graphite particles with different sizes. The capacitance, dielectric loss, conductivity and resistance of the PDMS composite film are characterized and analyzed. The output current of the TENG based on AGS@PDMS film is 3 times as much as that of the TENG based on pure PDMS film and the output power density reaches 4.8 W/m(2) at the load resistance of 15 M Omega. In addition, the TENG can be used as a pressure sensor to measure the mass and height of an object. This work demonstrates that the voltage applied on whole TENG is distributed to micro capacitors formed by aligned graphene sheets in PDMS, by which the higher breakdown voltage and energy conversion ability are achieved. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.