Current-Enhanced Self-Sustainable Wearable Triboelectric Textile System for Healthcare Monitoring and Rehabilitation Applications

Abstract

In this work, a facile and universal strategy to enhance the triboelectric output is proposed by the integration of a narrow-gap TENG textile (T-TENG) with a high-voltage diode and a textile-based switch. The closed-loop current of the diode-enhanced textile-based TENG (D-TENG) can be increased by 25 times, and the speed of the charging capacitor is 4 times larger than the conventional strategy. The soft, flexible, and thin characteristics of the D-TENG enable a moderate output under various operations even as it is randomly scrunched. Besides, the enhanced current can directly stimulate rat muscle and nerve. In addition, we demonstrate the capability of the D-TENG as a practical power source for wearable sensors by powering Bluetooth sensors for humidity and temperature sensing.