Enhancing output performance of wearable triboelectric nanogenerators by manipulating the permittivity of BaTiO₃-base/PVA composite films

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have been widely used in wearable devices for their low cost, portable and self-powered properties. However, the positive triboelectric materials of TENG are still facing problems of low output performance, poor environmental friendliness, and a complicated manufacturing process. We proposed a wearable BP-TENG using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) doped BaTiO₃-base ceramic powder (BTO-base) with high permittivity. It is worth mentioning that PVA has strong electron-losing ability, and it also has the advantages of low cost, good biocompatibility, environmental protection, and a simple preparation process, which make it an ideal choice as a wearable TENG positive triboelectric material. Different mass ratios of BTO-base are doped into the PVA film, and its doping enhances the charge trapping and storage capacity of the composite film. The maximum output performance is obtained at a doping mass ratio of 8% and a thickness of 70.68 μm, with an open-circuit voltage of 72 V and a short_circuit current of 2.5 μA, which are 80% and 78.6% higher than those of pure PVA film, respectively. In addition, the BP-TENG can be connected to a capacitor through a rectifier circuit to form an energy storage system that can power small electronic devices such as calculators and LCDs. At the same time, BP-TENG can be worn on different parts of the body to sense human motion signals, demonstrating its application potential in the field of wearable electronics.