Wet Spun Core-Shell Fibers for Wearable Triboelectric Nanogenerators

The advancements in communication technologies and the cooperation of different disciplines such as the internet of things, artificial intelligence and data science have made a significant contribution to the development of wearable electronic devices. Rechargeable batteries and capacitors are currently used to power up these devices. However, the shortcomings of these power supplies limit the use of wearable electronics. First, they are heavy and bulky that reduce comfort. In addition, their capacity is limited. They require frequent charging, and they carry potential risks. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have a significant potential to be used as a reliable, inexhaustible, sustainable, and economically feasible power source. In this study, core-shell TENG electrodes were fabricated via co-wet spinning process. The core of the TENG electrodes were consisted of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) matrix and carbon black (CB) and silver nanowire (Ag NW) additives. The core fibers were responsible to carry induced electrons resulting from contact electrification. The fabricated shell layer was bare TPU and acted as tribo-charged surface. The effect of TPU concentration within the doping solution for the shell on the output performance of the TENGs were investigated. The open circuit voltage, short circuit current, open circuit charges and maximum power output of the 1 cm long core shell fiber TENGs (PDMS/Al was the counter electrode) were recorded as 1V, 20 nA, 8 nC and 0.07 μW/cm, respectively. Moreover, the output performances of the core shell fibers were also quite stable up to 50 % strain. These results indicated that, wet spun core-shell fibers carry great potential for wearable TENGs.