Graphene nanoplatelet integrated thermally drawn PVDF triboelectric nanocomposite fibers for extreme environmental conditions

Abstract

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) utilize the synergetic effect of triboelectrification and electrostatic induction to guide electrons through an external circuit, enabling low-frequency mechanical and biomechanical energy harvesting and self-powered sensing. Integrating 2D material with a high specific surface area into flexible ferroelectric polymers such as polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) has proven to be an efficient strategy to improve the performance of TENG devices. Scalable fabrication of graphene-integrated PVDF nanocomposite fiber using thermal drawing process is demonstrated for the first time in this study. The open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current show 1.41 times and 1.48 times improvement with the integration of 5% graphene in the PVDF fibers, respectively. The TENG fabric shows a maximum power output of 32.14 μW at a matching load of 7 M𝛀 and a power density of 53.57 mW m$^{−2}$. The fibers exhibit excellent stability in harsh environmental conditions such as alkaline medium, high/low temperature, multi-washing cycle, and long-time usage.