Stretchable, Adhesive, Self-Healable, and Conductive Hydrogel-Based Deformable Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Energy Harvesting and Human Motion Sensing

Abstract

Hydrogels that combine the integrated attributes of being adhesive, self-healable, deformable, and conductive show great promise for next-generation soft robotic/energy/electronic applications. Herein, we reported a dual-network polyacrylamide (PAAM)/poly(acrylic acid) (PAA)/graphene (GR)/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) (MAGP) conductive hydrogel composed of dual-cross-linked PAAM and PAA as well as PEDOT:PSS and GR as a conducting component that combines these features. A wearable strain sensor is fabricated by sandwiching the MAGP hydrogels between two dielectric carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) layers, which can be utilized to monitor delicate and vigorous human motion. In addition, the hydrogel-based sensor can act as a deformable triboelectric nanogenerator (D-TENG) for harvesting mechanical energy. The D-TENG demonstrates a peak output voltage and current of 141 V and 0.8 μA, respectively. The D-TENG could easily light 52 yellow-light-emitting diodes (LEDs) simultaneously and demonstrated the capability to power small electronics, such as a hygrometer thermometer. This work provides a potential approach for the development of deformable energy sources and self-powered strain sensors.