Fully Stretchable Textile Triboelectric Nanogenerator with Knitted Fabric Structures

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Energy Harvesting
• Textile Engineering

Background:

• Wearable electronics require sustainable power sources to extend battery life.
• Harvesting energy from human motion is a promising approach for self-powered devices.
• Integrating energy harvesting directly into textiles offers a practical solution.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a fully stretchable triboelectric nanogenerator (S-TENG) using textile industry materials and techniques.
• To investigate the performance of different knitted fabric structures for energy harvesting.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of cloth-integrated energy harvesting for wearable applications.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a stretchable triboelectric nanogenerator (S-TENG) using knitted fabrics.
• Investigation of plain, double, and rib-knitted fabric structures.
• Analysis of S-TENG performance under stretching (up to 30%) and compression (3.3 Hz).

Main Results:

• The rib-knitted fabric structure showed superior performance due to increased surface contact.
• The S-TENG generated a maximum voltage of 23.50 V and a current of 1.05 μA under stretching.
• Under compression, the S-TENG achieved a constant average root-mean-square power of up to 60 μW.

Conclusions:

• Textile-based S-TENGs are feasible for harvesting biomechanical energy from human motion.
• The rib-knitted fabric structure offers enhanced triboelectric power generation.
• This technology is industrial-ready for integration into clothing and garments for self-powered wearable electronics.