All-printed 3D hierarchically structured cellulose aerogel based triboelectric nanogenerator for multi-functional sensors

The forthcoming ubiquitous innovations driven by flexible electronics and Internet of Things have inspired the relentless pursuit of advanced environmental-friendly power source for multi-functional sensors. Here, an all-printing method is utilized to fabricate high-performance biocompatible cellulose based triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) with 3D micro/nano hierarchically patterned structure. The printed triboelectric micro-3D pattern and the nano-porous aerogel structure in the all-printed triboelectric nanogenerator (AP-TENG) could significantly enhance the effectively utilizing of structure and contribute to the contact area, surface roughness and mechanical resilience of the device, which consequently contributes to improve the triboelectric response. The hierarchical micro/nano 3D structure of the AP-TENG results in higher voltage output than the traditional molding TENG counterpart. AP-TENGs with different contact angles are readily fabricated and systematically calculated and investigated. The AP-TENGs can efficiently harvest mechanical energy to drive 88 light-emitting diodes and act as self-powered mechanical sensor and humidity sensor. This work provides a new strategy to design and tailor high-performance 3D TENG that will be very useful for diverse multi-functional electronic applications.