Abstract
Electronic textiles (e-textiles) are emerging as promising next-generation sensors with applications in sport, healthcare, defense, and human-computer interactions. On one hand, their soft interface with skin provides comfortable user experience and offers the advantage of tailoring the sensors to adapt to different body types. On the other hand, their dependence on external power sources such as electrochemical batteries for prolonged monitoring of physiological cues compromises these inherent advantages by incorporating bulky, rigid, and non-biocompatible components into the textile designing. In this context, textile-based triboelectric nanogenerators (T-TENGs) are gaining attention due to their ability to act as self-powering sensors. However, most of the high-performance T-TENG designs utilize laboratory engineered yarns or functional polymers to fabricate the sensors. The complex nature of the material engineering of these designs is a hindrance in the scaling up and cost-effectiveness required for commercialization. In this work, we employed solely commercial off-the-shelf yarns for manufacturing our T-TENGs. We identified suitable yarn pairs, an appropriate weaving structure and a strategy for incorporating conductive yarns into the triboelectric layers to create a fully machinable double-layer T-TENG (DL-T-TENG). This DL-T-TENG provides stable voltage output for >20000 contact-separation cycles. Additionally, the peak-to-peak output voltage can reach as high as 143 V and the sensitivity of pressure detection 0.27 kPa-1. Finally, with our DL-T-TENGs we successfully demonstrated the possibility of harvesting and storing usable electrical energy by exerting a force approximately in the range of common biomechanical movements. Additionally, we showcased the possibility of sensing small biomechanical movements like a gentle touch using our DL-T-TENGs.
Keywords
E-textile; Triboelectricity; Pressure sensor; Energy harvest
DOI
10.21606/TI-2026.142
Citation
De, S., Mohan, M., Iannacchero, M., Vihmar, M.,and Vapaavuori, J.(2026) Towards self-powered woven triboelectric textiles using commercial yarns, in Jane Scott, Sophie Skach, and Rebecca Stewart (eds.), Textile Intersections 2026, 17-18 September 2026, London, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/TI-2026.142
Conference Track
researchpapers
Included in
Towards self-powered woven triboelectric textiles using commercial yarns
Electronic textiles (e-textiles) are emerging as promising next-generation sensors with applications in sport, healthcare, defense, and human-computer interactions. On one hand, their soft interface with skin provides comfortable user experience and offers the advantage of tailoring the sensors to adapt to different body types. On the other hand, their dependence on external power sources such as electrochemical batteries for prolonged monitoring of physiological cues compromises these inherent advantages by incorporating bulky, rigid, and non-biocompatible components into the textile designing. In this context, textile-based triboelectric nanogenerators (T-TENGs) are gaining attention due to their ability to act as self-powering sensors. However, most of the high-performance T-TENG designs utilize laboratory engineered yarns or functional polymers to fabricate the sensors. The complex nature of the material engineering of these designs is a hindrance in the scaling up and cost-effectiveness required for commercialization. In this work, we employed solely commercial off-the-shelf yarns for manufacturing our T-TENGs. We identified suitable yarn pairs, an appropriate weaving structure and a strategy for incorporating conductive yarns into the triboelectric layers to create a fully machinable double-layer T-TENG (DL-T-TENG). This DL-T-TENG provides stable voltage output for >20000 contact-separation cycles. Additionally, the peak-to-peak output voltage can reach as high as 143 V and the sensitivity of pressure detection 0.27 kPa-1. Finally, with our DL-T-TENGs we successfully demonstrated the possibility of harvesting and storing usable electrical energy by exerting a force approximately in the range of common biomechanical movements. Additionally, we showcased the possibility of sensing small biomechanical movements like a gentle touch using our DL-T-TENGs.