Anti-freezing and stretchable triboelectric nanogenerator based on liquid electrode for biomechanical sensing in extreme environment

• Published in: Nano energy 2022-06, Vol.96, p.107067, Article 107067
• Main Authors: Zhao, Xinyang, Wang, Zhuo, Liu, Zhirong, Yao, Shuncheng, Zhang, Jiaming, Zhang, Zichao, Huang, Tian, Zheng, Li, Wang, Zhong Lin, Li, Linlin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anti-freezing; Biomechanical sensing; Liquid electrode; Stretchable; Triboelectric nanogenerator
• ISSN: 2211-2855
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2022.107067

The development of intelligent and wearable electronics raises an urgent requirement for stretchable, durable power sources and sensors. Especially, self-powered sensor that can work with high sensing sensitivity and stability in harsh environments is greatly desired for wilderness exploration and urgent rescue. Herein, an anti-freezing, stretch-matched, and liquid electrode-based TENG (Abbr. as AS-TENG) is developed and demonstrated for biomechanical sensing in extremely cold environments. The liquid electrode with the integration of lithium chloride electrolyte, graphene oxide micro-/nano- sheets and ethylene glycol (LiCl/GO/EG) acted as the electrode is encapsulated within a dielectric elastomer as the electrification layer, allowing the resultant single-electrode AS-TENG to achieve a high stretchability of 200% and high electrical performance output with open-circuit voltage of 317 V, short-circuit current of 27 μA, and short-circuit charge of 100 nC. It can be used as a self-powered wearable sensor to be attached on human body for monitoring the biomechanical motion, and can also be used as a power source of a self-charging system to power electronic devices. Most importantly, the AS-TENG can work under severe condition within a wide temperature range (−40 ~ +25 °C) without sacrificing its sensing performance. This work provides a broad application prospect for the development of anti-freezing, stretchable, and liquid electrode-based TENG as wearable sensor under harsh conditions. [Display omitted] •An anti-freezing and stretchable triboelectric nanogenerator based on liquid electrode is designed and fabricated.•The fabricated AS-TENG can achieve a high stretchability of 200% and high electrical performance output.•The AS-TENG can sensitively monitor human physiological activities within a wide temperature range (−40 ~ +25 °C).•Our research provides broad application prospect for TENG-based wearable sensor and electronics under harsh conditions.