Chemically Functionalized Cellulose Nanofibrils for Improving Triboelectric Charge Density of a Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Excellent triboelectric charge density and hydrophobicity are achieved on cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) by employing a simple and environmentally friendly approach to aminosilane modification of a CNF film. The positive charges on the CNF surface obtain gigantic enhancement, and a CNF-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with enhanced performance and moisture resistance is prepared. The performance of this functional CNF-based TENG can show outstanding output stability when the environmental humidity is 70%. Meanwhile, this TENG can respond to a variety of human activities, including pressing, stretching, bending, and twisting, indicating outstanding flexibility, and it can still be used to monitor the state of human movement in a human sweat environment. This work is expected to provide more insights and possibilities for application of such a functional CNF-based TENG in self-powered wearable electronics.