Origami Tribo-Metamaterials with Mechanoelectrical Multistability

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Mechanical Engineering
• Energy Harvesting

Background:

• Structurally functional materials with mechanoelectrical properties are gaining attention.
• Mechanical metamaterials are crucial for triggering and controlling mechanoelectrical responses in energy materials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report origami tribo-metamaterials (OTMs) integrating triboelectric materials within origami-enabled tubular metamaterials.
• To investigate the mechanoelectrical multistability triggered by various origami unit designs.

Main Methods:

• Designing OTMs using octagonal, hexagonal, and conical origami units as substrates.
• Employing triboelectric pairs, such as fluorinated ethylene propylene-paper, to generate mechanoelectrical signals.
• Analyzing force-displacement responses and output electrical characteristics.

Main Results:

• The octagonal OTM configuration achieved a peak open-circuit voltage of 206.4 V, short-circuit current of 4.66 μA, and transferred charge of 0.38 μC.
• A maximum instantaneous output power density of 0.96 μW/cm² was recorded with a 20 MΩ load resistance.
• OTMs demonstrated multistable force-displacement responses for tunable mechanoelectrical performance.

Conclusions:

• OTMs offer a novel strategy for structurally designing energy materials with desirable mechanoelectrical responses.
• The study provides guidelines for applying mechanical functional metamaterials in practical energy harvesting and sensing applications.