Advances in High‐Performance Autonomous Energy and Self‐Powered Sensing Textiles with Novel 3D Fabric Structures

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) 2022-05, Vol.34 (21), p.e2109355-n/a
• Main Authors: Dong, Kai, Peng, Xiao, Cheng, Renwei, Ning, Chuan, Jiang, Yang, Zhang, Yihan, Wang, Zhong Lin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 3D fabrics; Design modifications; Electrification; energy and sensing textiles; Environmental management; Fabric structures; Intelligence; Internet of Things; Materials science; Nanogenerators; power output; Power sources; pressure sensitivity; Service areas; Smart materials; Structural design; Textiles; triboelectric nanogenerators; Wearable technology
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202109355

The seamless integration of emerging triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) technology with traditional wearable textile materials has given birth to the next‐generation smart textiles, i.e., textile TENGs, which will play a vital role in the era of Internet of Things and artificial intelligences. However, low output power and inferior sensing ability have largely limited the development of textile TENGs. Among various approaches to improve the output and sensing performance, such as material modification, structural design, and environmental management, a 3D fabric structural scheme is a facile, efficient, controllable, and scalable strategy to increase the effective contact area for contact electrification of textile TENGs without cumbersome material processing and service area restrictions. Herein, the recent advances of the current reported textile TENGs with 3D fabric structures are comprehensively summarized and systematically analyzed in order to clarify their superiorities over 1D fiber and 2D fabric structures in terms of power output and pressure sensing. The forward‐looking integration abilities of the 3D fabrics are also discussed at the end. It is believed that the overview and analysis of textile TENGs with distinctive 3D fabric structures will contribute to the development and realization of high‐power output micro/nanowearable power sources and high‐quality self‐powered wearable sensors. Smart textiles with autonomous energy supply and self‐powered sensing abilities are extremely important for the future Internet‐of‐Things and artificial intelligence. The high‐performance textile triboelectric nanogenerators with novel 3D fabrics are comprehensively reviewed by focusing on representative structural classifications. The remarkable superiorities and potential challenges of 3D fabrics are also prospectively discussed in the end.