Thin, Skin-Integrated, Stretchable Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Tactile Sensing

Recent advances in thin, soft skin-integrated electronics have brought many opportunities in the wearable technics. A simple platform with the functionality of self-powering for epidermal electronics is reported. These electronics can generate electricity from external mechanical stresses that associates with triboelectric effect, and therefore afford excellent performance in tactile sensing and energy harvesting. Combined advances in materials and mechanics of the skin-integrated electronics with high efficiency energy harvesting techniques, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) in an epidermal format is realized for the first time. The dots-distributed electrode pattern allows these electronics exhibiting excellent flexibility and stretchability, distinguishing a broad range of pressures that are relevant to normal body motions. The electricity output of the epidermal device from simple finger tapping modes can achieve >60 V of voltage and >1 µA of current, which is sufficient to light up 15 small light-emitting diodes. Furthermore, the authors also report a 4 × 4 sensor array based on these TENGs, and demonstrate a skin-like electronics for real-time motion monitoring and tactile mapping.