A multiple laser-induced hybrid electrode for flexible triboelectric nanogenerators

Abstract

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) stand out from wearable energy-harvesting technologies due to their high output power and flexibility. Moreover, triboelectric materials particularly the electrodes are considered to be the most significant part, which directly affect the output, flexibility and the fabrication process. In this study, we propose the fabrication of a laser-induced graphene (LIG)-Au hybrid electrode-based flexible TENG by a simple laser-induced method. Utilizing multiple laser irradiation, the PI and metal precursor can be induced to form a porous Au-LIG hybrid electrode. The Au nanoparticles on porous LIG are uniform and dense. Furthermore, this simple method can control the concentration and pattern of the Au-LIG flexible electrode. Based on the Au-LIG flexible electrode, we fabricated a flexible TENG and investigated the effects of the Au concentration on the output performance. The maximum instantaneous power of the Au-LIG-based TENG increased about 4 times compared to that of the LIG-based TENG. Finally, we developed a TENG-based sensor for writing recognition. According to the voltage signal and signal order, we can refer the writing track. This cost-effective method can fabricate the flexible electrode with enhanced performance, which paves the development of flexible and wearable electronics.