Stretchable, self-healing, transparent macromolecular elastomeric gel and PAM/carrageenan hydrogel for self-powered touch sensors

The booming of next-generation soft electronics has aroused great demand for the flexible touch sensors, and their key problem is to ensure good transparency and durability. Herein, glycerin and hydroxyethyl cellulose elastomer (GHEC), and PAM/carrageenan double network (DN) hydrogel are prepared by a simple one-pot polymerization method. The as-prepare DN hydrogel are sandwiched between two GHEC layers to act as a self-powered and self-healing triboelectric nanogenerator (SS-TENG), with the average peak value of VOC and ISC reaching 347.5 V and 0.98 μA respectively. When the SS-TENG is damaged, it can complete self-healing without degradation of the electrical output performance and mechanical property, guaranteeing good durability. The prepared SS-TENG exhibits excellent flexibility and high transmittance up to 93%. Further, a 3 × 3 sef-powered transparent touch sensor array based on the SS-TENG is developed. Our SS-TENG paves the way for the development of new flexible self-powered touch screen sensors.