Bioinspired sweat-resistant wearable triboelectric nanogenerator for movement monitoring during exercise. (May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Wenjian; Lu, Liqiang; Kottapalli, Ajay Giri Prakash; Pei, Yutao
• Is Part Of: Nano energy. Volume 95(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-05
• Subjects: Bioinspired -- Sweat-resistant -- Self-cleaning -- Triboelectric nanogenerator -- Movement monitoring; Nanoscience -- Periodicals; Nanotechnology -- Periodicals; Nanostructured materials -- Periodicals; Power resources -- Technological innovations -- Periodicals; Nanoscience; Nanostructured materials; Nanotechnology; Power resources -- Technological innovations; Periodicals; 621.042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2022.107018
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2211-2855

Abstract

Abstract: Regular exercise plays an important role in remedying body suboptimal health status and releasing daily stress. Herein, we proposed a bioinspired sweat-resistant wearable triboelectric nanogenearator (BSRW-TENG) for movement monitoring during exercise. The BSRW-TENG consists of two superhydrophobic and self-cleaning triboelectric layers (elastic resin and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)), which featured the hierarchical micro/nanostructures replicated from lotus leaf. The bioinspired micro/nanostructures not only realized a 2-fold output increase of the BSRW-TENG, but also offered the BSRW-TENG with excellent contamination and humidity resistant properties that constitute the sweat-resistance. After saline (0.9%) dripped on and evaporated, the output of the BSRW-TENG remained the same while that of the flat-TENG decreased by 41% due to salt contamination on the triboelectric surfaces. Besides, the BSRW-TENG demonstrated excellent humidity-resistance with only 11% output reduction as the relative humidity increased from 10% to 80%, while the flat-TENG decreased by 54%. The sweat-resistant ability was further verified under extreme harsh conditions including complete surface contamination and ultra-humid water spraying. Finally, various exercise movements including dumbbell biceps curl, leg curl and running were successfully monitored by the BSRW-TENG with stable performance before and after sweating. The proposed BSRW-TENG has huge potential in low-cost personal exercise monitoring and athletes' training analysis. Graphical Abstract: ga1 Highlights: A bioinspired sweat-resistant wearable triboelectric nanogenerator (BSRW-TENG) is proposed for movement monitoring. The bioinspired hierarchical micro/nanostructures benefited a 2-fold increase in the electrical output for the BSRW-TENG. The BSRW-TENG remained stable after surficial saline contamination and had 89% output retention under high humidity. The excellent sweat-resistance of the BSRW-TENG revealed its huge potential in wearable personal exercise monitoring.