Waterproof, breathable and washable triboelectric nanogenerator based on electrospun nanofiber films for wearable electronics

Abstract Flexible, breathable and widely implementable triboelectric nanogenerator is highly demanded for wearable electronics to satisfy the technical requirements of the Internet of Things (IoT). The fabric-based wearable electronic devices have conspicuous advantages, however, how to optimize their electrical performance and comfortable characteristics is a great challenge. Here, we reported a waterproof, breathable and wearable electronics by fabricating nanofiber-based triboelectric nanogenerator (NF-TENG). The NF-TENG was consisted of the electrospun PA66/MWCNTs (multi-walled carbon nanotubes) nanofibers film with the nano-net structure used as the tribo-positive layer and the electrospun PVDF nanofibers film used as the tribo-negative layer, respectively. Owing to the coupling effect between the nano-network structure and porous structure, the effective contact area is enhanced effectively. A 20 mm × 20 mm NF-TENG demonstrates a peak voltage, current and a maximum power density up to 142 V, 15.5 μA and 1.30 W/m2, respectively. The NF-TENG can be worth spread application to resolve power source for some wearable electronics. Also, the as-obtained NF-TENG has high gas-permeability of 11.5 mm s−1 benefiting from the hierarchical networks, and thus exhibits good washable characteristics. These results indicate that the NF-TENG is promising for providing a new vision in the area of self-powered wearable technology.