Fibrous triboelectric nanogenerators: fabrication, integration, and application

Abstract

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are a class of smart technology capable of converting mechanical energy into electrical energy, showing promising features to function as mobile sustainable power sources and self-powered sensors. As a type of TENG with a one-dimensional structure, fibrous triboelectric nanogenerators (F-TENGs) are a class of smart wearable devices exhibiting outstanding tailorability as textiles to form textile-based TENGs (T-TENGs), which present the advantages of both TENGs and fabrics such as remarkable breathability and good non-planar surface adaptability. Therefore, designing and developing F-TENGs with optimized performances are considered a fundamental solution for the fabrication of T-TENGs. Herein, this work comprehensively introduces the recent progress in F-TENGs, including their fabrication techniques, the integration strategies of F-TENGs into smart textiles, and the application of F-TENGs as energy-harvesting devices or self-powered sensing systems. Finally, the challenges and perspectives regarding their performance improvement, large-scale production, and basic mechanism are proposed.