Design Guidelines of Stretchable Pressure Sensors-Based Triboelectrification

In this paper, a comprehensive study for a stretchable self-powered pressure sensor is presented to investigate the structural parameters effect on the sensor sensitivity, and the pressure sensor is designed based on a vertical contact-separation mode triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). By addressing the solid mechanics, electrical, and surface science effects, we discussed the fundamental physics of the TENG pressure sensor. Modeling and simulation by finite element method (FEA) are conducted to clarify the effects of the structural dimensions on the performance of the pressure sensor. In addition, the relationship between the deformation of an interfacial micro-nano structure and the applied pressure on a triboelectric energy harvester (TEH) is analyzed for different microstructures patterns and dimensions. Finally, a comparison is conducted between TENG pressure sensor based on the contact-separation mode (CS) and single electrode mode (SE). The results show that both structure sizes of the pressure sensor and TENG operating modes have a significant influence on the pressure sensitivity of the sensor.