Chemically Variable Polyurethanes Prepared Using CO₂-Derived Diols as Promising Triboelectric Energy Harvesting Materials

The chemical conversion of CO2 into valuable chemicals has attracted great attention from scientists. In this work, cyclic carbonates (CCs) with various functional groups were prepared through the chemical conversion of CO2 with epoxides. By reacting CCs with 2-ethanolamine, carbamate diols with various functional groups (CDs) could be developed as polymer platforms. Finally, a series of polyurethanes with various functional groups (PU-CDs) were synthesized by reacting CDs with diisocyanate and were applied as triboelectric energy harvesting materials. The triboelectric performance of PU-CDs on polyethylene terephthalate fabric (PET-F) films depended on the functional groups of PU-CDs. The optimal PU-CD4/PET-F film with phenyl groups exhibited promising triboelectric performance, achieving an output peak-to-peak voltage (Vp–p) of 352 V and a maximum power density of 18 mW/cm2. The triboelectric devices fabricated with PU-CD4/PET-F films demonstrated excellent durability over 30000 pressing/releasing cycles and were able to power green light emitting diodes (LEDs) and a hygrometer. Based on the synthetic strategy of this work, a greater variety of CO2-derived PUs can be designed and developed for the harvesting of triboelectric energy.