Melt coated flexible stainless-steel thread based co-axial triboelectric yarn nanogenerators

ABSTRACT

Textiles that are smart and responsive have become the new norm in recent years. The development of smart textiles has sparked research into self-powered distributed sensors and portable wearable electronics integrated into clothing. One of the main functionalities of smart textiles is the ability to power these electronics by generating electrical energy from body movements. Since fibres, yarns, and filaments are the basic units of textiles, integrating smart functionality into these basic units is a rational approach. Herein, we report on a co-axial yarn-like triboelectric nanogenerator (Y-TENG) by utilising a scaled-up dielectric (i.e. PVDF) melt coating method to coat a flexible stainless steel thread. The average peak open-circuit voltage (V_oc), peak V_oc, average peak short-circuit current (I_sc), and peak I_sc were recorded as 3.82 V, 16.1 V, 12.96 nA, and 53.1 nA, respectively, at 700 N force and 2.11 Hz frequency.

KEYWORDS:

• Smart textiles
• co-axial triboelectric nanogenerators
• crystalline phases of PVDF
• melt coating
• mechanical energy harvesting

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the help of Dr. Eric Formo, Academic Professional Associate, VPR-GA Electron Microscopy, the University of Georgia, USA, in conducting SEM images for the study. We also would like to appreciate the help of Dr. Vladimir Reukov, Assistant Professor, Textiles, Merchandising, and Interiors, the University of Georgia, USA. We would like to thank Brianna Blevins, Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, USA, for her help in the research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.