Flexible self-healing polyborosiloxane-based triboelectric nanogenerators for environmental adaptability

Abstract

The rapid increase in energy consumption has heightened interest in harnessing energy from natural mechanical motion. Triboelectric Nanogenerators (TENGs), based on triboelectric and electrostatic induction, offer a promising solution due to their simple structure, low cost, and high energy conversion efficiency under low-frequency motion. This study presents the development of flexible, self-healing triboelectric materials based on viscoelastic polyborosiloxanes (PBS), designed to enhance the performance and environmental adaptability of TENGs. The PBS films exhibit excellent shape adaptability and adhesiveness, enabling them to adhere to irregular surfaces and achieve a self-healing efficiency of 93.2% within 3 minutes at room temperature. The incorporation of boric acid as a cross-linking agent significantly improves the electrical output performance, with the open-circuit voltage (V_oc) and short-circuit charge (Q_sc) increasing by 15% and 20%, respectively, at a boric acid content of 33 wt%. Despite the decrease in tensile strength with higher boric acid content, the PBS-based TENGs maintain stable electrical output under varying load conditions and demonstrate superior performance at low frequencies. The fabricated TENG devices, utilizing PBS and copper films as triboelectric materials, effectively convert a pulsed alternating current into direct current, providing a stable power supply for small electronic devices. These findings underscore the potential of PBS-based flexible, self-healing triboelectric materials for energy harvesting and portable electronic applications, particularly in environments with irregular mechanical sources.