All‐Fiber Electronic Skin Based on Asymmetric Wool/PTFE Structure for Energy Harvesting and Self‐Powered Sensing
This paper reports on a fully textile electronic skin (e-skin) based on an asymmetric wool/polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) structure, which is fabricated through an innovative filling core yarn and weft interweaving technique, enabling self-driven contact detection and motion sensing functions. The e-skin features a three-layer woven structure, with the outer layer made of PTFE (high dielectric constant, superhydrophobic), the inner layer composed of wool (hygroscopic, skin-friendly), and a middle layer embedded with silver-plated nylon (SPN) conductive yarns forming a flexible electrode array. Benefiting from its asymmetric design, this material exhibits excellent triboelectric performance (open-circuit voltage of 37 V, short-circuit current of 58 nA), breathability (341.9 mm/s), and mechanical durability (over 1000 cycles). Through modification with a polyacrylic acid coating, the PTFE side demonstrates superhydrophobicity (contact angle > 150°) and self-cleaning capabilities. In practical applications, this e-skin can accurately monitor the bending angle of the elbow joint (30°∼120°, R<sup>2</sup> = 0.979) and recognize sliding gestures through differences in voltage waveforms. Additionally, it can drive commercial electronic devices and charge capacitors (4.7 µF capacitor charged to 4.5 V within 100 s). This study provides a scalable textile-based solution for developing comfortable and durable self-driven electronic skin, suitable for human-computer interaction and health monitoring applications.
Authors
- Jin Tao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3579-8991)
- Xibo Hao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0193-4249)
- Leigen Liu
- Jiru Jia
- Jian Zang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2821-3094)
- Weidi Yin
- Xin Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3754-9182)
- Ya Yang
Institutions
- Suzhou University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Changzhou Vocational Institute of Textile and Garment (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Macromolecular Rapid Communications
- Published
- 2025-07-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.202500464
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation