Fabric texture design for boosting the performance of a knitted washable textile triboelectric nanogenerator as wearable power

Highlights: • A commercially available knitting methods are utilized for designing TENG textiles. • The effect of fabric texture on the performance of TENG textiles are investigated. • TENG textiles are demonstrated for harvesting human motion energy. -- Abstract: The development of fibre/fabric-based triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) has received widespread attention because of their wearability and their ability to scavenge energy from human motion to power wearable functional electronics sustainably. However, the challenge of simultaneously providing characteristics that include high output power, continuous large-scale fabrication capability, easy incorporation with garment fabrication processes, washability and comfortable wear for the user still remains. Here, we propose a strategy for design and fabrication of TENG textiles with the merits of cloths that can be knitted from conductive silver-plated nylon threads using a commercially available knitting method. When these textiles are combined with a laminated composite fabric, free-standing mode TENG textiles are then realized. The performance of these TENG textiles could be enhanced by designing the knit fabric texture and the surface morphology of the laminated fabric. In addition, TENG textiles worn on the side of the user's waist have also been demonstrated to scavenge various types of energy from human motion and are capable of lighting light-emitting diodes (LEDs), powering a smart watch or acting as a motion sensor to provide constant monitoring of the movement signals of the human body. This work not only demonstrates the potential applications of these multifunctional self-powered textiles in wearable electronics, but also offers a promising strategy for exploring high performance TENG textile with industrialized large-scale manufacturing.