Electrospinning Machine | A Facile Strategy for Textile-Based Highly Sensitive and Water- Resistant Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Challenge: The demand for real-time physiological monitoring drives innovation in triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). TENGs offer promise for real-time dynamic monitoring, but they are often complex to manufacture, have low sensitivity, and are susceptible to environmental humidity interference. 

Method: Professor Sun Wei, Professor Qin Xiaohong, and Associate Professor Zhang Hongnan from Donghua University, among others, used waterborne polyurethane (WPU) as a waterproof encapsulation layer and friction layer, and polypyrrole (PPy) as a triboelectric conductive layer to design a fabric-based integrated triboelectric nanogenerator (F-TENG). This design simplifies the manufacturing process while improving the device's resistance to environmental factors. 

Innovation 1: The micro-filament structure enables local contact-separation during deformation, initiating the triboelectric effect, while the 3D structure amplifies local strain, further enhancing sensitivity to weak signals. The F-TENG has extremely high sensitivity and can accurately monitor weak signals such as carotid artery pulsation and respiration. 

Innovation 2: Furthermore, the F-TENG maintains stable performance under humid conditions, retaining 78.78% of its output voltage as relative humidity increases from 20% to 80%. When implanted in the moist environment of a rat's leg, the F-TENG showed a significant output of 21 V. Additionally, the F-TENG's inherent antibacterial properties further enhance its application potential.

 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202420459