Sensors play a crucial role in enhancing the quality of life, ensuring safety, and facilitating technological advancements. Over the past decade, 2D layered materials have been added as new sensing element in addition to existing materials such as metal oxides, semiconductors, metals, and polymers. 2D Layered materials are typically characterized by their single or few‐layer thickness and offer a high surface‐to‐volume ratio, exceptional mechanical strength, and unique electronic attributes. These properties make them ideal candidates for a variety of sensing applications. This review article focused on utilizing 2D layered materials in triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) for different sensing applications. The best part of TENG‐based sensing is that it is self‐powered, so no external power supply is required. The initial part of the review focused on the importance of the 2D layered materials and their innovative integration methods in TENGs. Further, this review discusses various sensing applications, including humidity, touch, force, temperature, and gas sensing, highlighting the impact of 2D layered materials in enhancing the sensitivity and selectivity of TENG sensors. The last part of the review discusses the challenges and prospects of TENG‐based self‐powered sensors.
20 August 2024 in IEEE Journal on Flexible Electronics
Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are fast emerging as promising and potential energy harvesters. However, the performance of the polymer-based TENGs needs to be enhanced for haptic and wearable applications. In this work, we have designed and developed polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) based TENG for haptic applications. The unique electrical properties of the human body, which make it a suitable triboelectric material, were a critical factor in our design. The incorporation of MWCNTs enhanced the electrical properties of the nanocomposite, thereby increasing the performance of the TENG. To demonstrate the performance of the TENG under variable contact tapping forces and frequencies, the as-fabricated films were tested in vertical contact separation and single electrode modes. The TENG exhibited an open circuit output voltage of ~249 V, a short circuit current of ~28.03 μA, and a power density of 2.81 W/m 2 at a matching load of 5.5 MΩ. The TENG exhibited an excellent, stable electrical performance for haptic applications. The TENG’s excellent performance was validated by the illumination of 30 blue and 120 red LEDs. Additionally, it was employed to power portable electronic devices. Therefore, these flexible and wearable TENGs with high performance are highly desirable for haptic applications.
13 November 2023 in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering