Multilayered Functional Triboelectric Polymers for Self-Powered Wearable Applications: A Review

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrical Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Wearable devices require flexible, sensitive materials for detecting biological signals and motion.
• Existing dielectric polymers in self-powered wearables have performance limitations.
• Triboelectric devices rely on triboelectrification and electrostatic induction for energy harvesting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advancements in multilayered functional triboelectric polymers for wearable applications.
• To discuss the fundamental dielectric principles governing these materials.
• To highlight diverse applications of these enhanced triboelectric polymers.

Main Methods:

• Review of literature on multilayer-stacking structures in triboelectric devices.
• Analysis of dielectric principles, including permittivity and conductivity.
• Exploration of novel triboelectric polymers with tailored chemical structures or nano-additives.

Main Results:

• Multilayer-stacking significantly improves triboelectric device performance via enhanced interfacial polarization.
• Dissimilar material properties (permittivity, conductivity) in stacked layers boost performance.
• Novel polymers and nano-additives offer control over interfacial polarization for multi-stimuli response.

Conclusions:

• Multilayered functional triboelectric polymers are key to developing high-performance, self-powered wearable devices.
• Tailoring material properties and structures unlocks enhanced sensitivity and multi-stimuli responsiveness.
• These advancements pave the way for next-generation wearable electronics with sustainable operation.