Deformable Textile-Structured Triboelectric Nanogenerator Knitted with Multifunctional Sensing Fibers for Biomechanical Energy Harvesting

Fibers and textiles that harvest mechanical energy via the triboelectric effect are promising candidates as power supplies for wearable electronics. However, triboelectric fibers and textiles are often hindered by problems such as complex fabrication processes, limited length, performances below the state-of-the-art of 2D planar configurations, etc. Here, we demonstrated a scalable fabrication of core-sheath-structured elastomer triboelectric fibers that combine silicone hollow tubes with gel-electrodes. Gel-electrodes were fabricated via a facile freeze–thawing process of blending polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), gelatin, glycerin, poly (3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene): poly (styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS), and sodium chloride (NaCl). Such fibers can also be knitted into deformable triboelectric nanogenerator textiles with high electrical outputs up to 106 V and 0.8 μA, which could work as reliable power supplies for small electronics. Moreover, we demonstrated fabric materials recognition, Morse code communication, and human-motion-recognition capabilities, making such triboelectric fiber platform an exciting avenue for multifunctional wearable systems and human–machine interaction.Graphical abstract