Highly durable triboelectric nanogenerators based on fibrous fluoropolymer composite mats with enhanced mechanical and dielectric properties

Recent advances in the field of energy harvesting suggest the importance of nanostructured porous materials in improving the performance of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). Due to their high surface-to-volume and unique nanostructure assembly, they have been used for development of high-performance TENGs. Nevertheless, due to their insufficient mechanical integrity, they are vulnerable to mechanical friction, and thus have encountered a bottleneck to retain their performance in many cycles. To address this, we have introduced an approach to design highly durable TENGs based on fibrous composite via a facile process. Systematic study was conducted to explore incorporation of different carbon-based nanofillers (graphene nanoplatelets [GnPs], carbon nanotubes [CNTs], and carbon nanofibers [CNFs]) on performance of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) fibrous mats. Among different nanofillers, incorporation of GnP can significantly enhance various characteristics of composites. The developed PVDF-GnP fibrous composite sample with 1 wt% nanofiller content was then used as the tribonegative material in TENG structure. Designed TENG displayed outstanding performance, with the output voltage and current of 134.4 V and 12.9 μA, respectively. Moreover, fibrous PVDF-GnP composite retained structural characteristics, and no deterioration was observed after over 350,000 cycles. Overall, the outstanding triboelectric performance of developed fibrous composites, along with their superior mechanical and electrical properties, make them ideal candidate for development of durable high-performance TENGs.