Flexible self-charging power units for portable electronics based on folded carbon paper

The urgent demand for portable electronics has promoted the development of high-efficiency, sustainable, and even stretchable self-charging power sources. In this work, we propose a flexible self-charging power unit based on folded carbon (FC) paper for harvesting mechanical energy from human motion and power portable electronics. The present unit mainly consists of a triboelectric nanogenerator (FC-TENG) and a supercapacitor (FC-SC), both based on folded carbon paper, as energy harvester and storage device, respectively. This favorable geometric design provides the high Young’s modulus carbon paper with excellent stretchability and enables the power unit to work even under severe deformations, such as bending, twisting, and rolling. In addition, the tensile strain can be maximized by tuning the folding angle of the triangle-folded carbon paper. Moreover, the waterproof property of the packaged device make it washable, protect it from human sweat, and enable it to work in harsh environments. Finally, the as-prepared self-charging power unit was tested by placing it on the human body to harvest mechanical energy from hand tapping, foot treading, and arm touching, successfully powering an electronic watch. This work demonstrates the impressive potential of stretchable self-charging power units, which will further promote the development of high Young’s modulus materials for wearable/portable electronics.