Abstract
The advancement of wearable electronics, particularly triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), relies on the development of flexible, stretchable, and compressible electrodes that possess a large active surface area, high electrical conductivity, and excellent mechanical stability and deformability. However, existing elastomeric electrodes face challenges in meeting all of these requirements. Herein, we present a novel approach to address these limitations and create electrodes with elastomeric properties, stable metal-like electrical conductivity, and an expanded active surface area. For this goal, we perform an assembly of metal nanoparticles (NPs) in toluene and amine-functionalized organic linkers in alcohol onto the thiol-functionalized, embossed-structured elastomer. Particularly, the assembly process involves ligand exchange reaction-mediated metal NPs and subjecting them to solvent-swelling/deswelling of the embossed PDMS. This process induces the formation of cerebral cortex-like structured elastomer electrode, which is subsequently electroplated with Ni. The resulting electrodes exhibit metal-like electrical conductivity, elastomer-like flexibility, and cerebral cortex-like structure with substantially large surface area and high stress relieving properties. When combined with an intaglio-structured dielectric PDMS electrode, the device exhibits impressive TENG performance, surpassing the performance of conventional TENGs. This approach provides a basis for developing and designing a variety of high-performance flexible electronics, including TENGs.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 108828 |
Journal | Nano Energy |
Volume | 116 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2023 Nov |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023 The Authors
Keywords
- Cerebral cortex-like structure
- Deformable electrode
- Triboelectric nanogenerator
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- General Materials Science
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering