Flexible, biocompatible, and ridged silicone elastomers based robust sandwich-type triboelectric nanogenerator

Abstract

Energy harvesters for smart wearables are gaining increasing attention world-wide. Among the various type of options available, triboelectric nanogenerators harvesting mechanical energy from human body movements are especially attractive. In this work, a flexible sandwich-type triboelectric nanogenerator (FS-TENG) based on ridged and biocompatible silicone elastomers and thermoplastic polyurethane is proposed. The proposed FS-TENG exhibits the open-circuit voltages and maximum power density of ~80 volts and 0.35 mW/cm2, respectively. This preliminary performance already makes the device extremely promising to power low energy smart wearable devices, as well as monitor pressure in bespoke biomedical applications.