High-Sensitivity Flexible Self-Powered Pressure Sensor Based on Solid–Liquid Triboelectrification

Abstract

Self-powered sensors based on triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) possess advantages such as lightweight, small size, and low cost. However, the trade-off among response time, sensitivity, and wear resistance of the triboelectric layer in such sensors remains unresolved. In this paper, a hydrophobic triboelectric layer was prepared using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) doped with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), generating triboelectric signals through the contact and separation of the triboelectric layer with water. Compared to the traditional solid-solid triboelectric charging method in self-powered sensors, this sensor primarily relies on solid-liquid triboelectric charging, effectively avoiding the wear issues caused by traditional solid-solid triboelectric charging. Simultaneously, thanks to the solid-liquid contact mode, the response time of the self-powered sensor is significantly improved, and it maintains high sensitivity under extremely small trigger forces. Finally, this paper demonstrates the application of this self-powered sensor in scenarios such as detecting human joint movements, mechanical finger states, and robotic hand grasping states, showing its promising application prospects in the field of intelligent monitoring.