Highly Durable Bidirectional Rotary Triboelectric Nanogenerator with a Self‐Lubricating Texture and Self‐Adapting Contact Synergy for Wearable Applications

Abstract

AbstractSliding‐freestanding triboelectric nanogenerators (SF‐TENGs) are desirable for application in wearable power sources; however, improving their durability is the primary challenge. Meanwhile, few studies focus on enhancing the service life of tribo‐materials, especially from an anti‐friction perspective during dry operation. Herein, for the first time, a surface‐textured film with self‐lubricating property is introduced into the SF‐TENG as a tribo‐material, which is obtained by the self‐assembly of hollow SiO2 microspheres (HSMs) close to a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surface under vacuum conditions. The PDMS/HSMs film with micro‐bump topography simultaneously reduces the dynamic coefficient of friction from 1.403 to 0.195 and increases the electrical output of SF‐TENG by an order of magnitude. Subsequently, a textured film and self‐adapting contact synergized bidirectional rotary TENG (TAB‐TENG) is developed, and the superiorities of the soft flat rotator with bidirectional reciprocating rotation are systematically investigated. The obtained TAB‐TENG exhibits a remarkable output stability and an outstanding mechanical durability over 350 000 cycles. Furthermore, a smart foot system for stepping energy harvesting and wireless walking states monitoring is realized. This study proposes a pioneering strategy for extending the lifetime of SF‐TENGs and advances it toward practical wearable applications.