Publications

'Physical Dry Etching' published in 'Encyclopedia of Nanotechnology'

Abstract A triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is an effective means for the conversion of mechanical energy into electricity. Although Maxwell's displacement current is the underline mechanism of TENGs, the spatial and temporal variations of the electric field and electric displacement remain elusive, which prohibits an effective optimization of the energy conversion process. Here, the electric field distribution and energy dynamics of TENGs is determined using 3D mathematical modeling. The electrical energies stored in TENGs and extracted into the external circuit are calculated quantitatively whereby the ratio of the two, defined as the output efficiency, is obtained. Then, the power density and energy density of TENGs are defined. Utilizing the principle of virtual work, the minimum required external force–time relationship is evaluated. The influence of device parameters, geometry, and optimum conditions are discussed systematically so as to determine general optimization guidelines for TENGs. In addition, although the fringing electric field is practically inevitable, adjustments of the gap distance between neighboring TENG devices to assure that an optimized fringing electric field is “leaked”, is demonstrated to lead to improvement in a TENG array. Then, for the first time, this work presents universal design rules and holistic optimization strategies for the network structure of TENGs.

Polymer-based piezoelectric devices are promising for developing future wearable force sensors, nanogenerators, and implantable electronics, etc. The electric signals generated by them are often assumed as solely coming from the piezoelectric effect. However, triboelectric signals originated from contact electrification between the piezoelectric devices and the contacted objects can produce non-negligible interfacial electron transfer, which is often combined with the piezoelectric signal to give a triboelectric-piezoelectric hybrid output, leading to an exaggerated measured "piezoelectric" signal. Herein, a simple and effective method is proposed for quantitatively identifying and extracting the piezoelectric charge from the hybrid signal. The triboelectric and piezoelectric parts in the hybrid signal generated by a poly(vinylidene fluoride)-based device are clearly differentiated, and their force and charge characteristics in the time domain are identified. This work presents an effective method to elucidate the true piezoelectric performance in practical measurement, which is crucial for evaluating piezoelectric materials fairly and correctly.

Abstract Nondestructive testing (NDT) is crucial technology for authenticity identification of paper‐based artworks. Emerging optical spectroscopy is an important technique of NDT at present, by which high‐bightness light, electron beams, and rays could cause permanent damage to different types of paper‐based artworks. Here, using only NDT technology, triboelectric closed‐loop sensing system (TE‐CLSS) is developed by contact electrification effect. It is composed of a stethoscope‐like triboelectric nanogenerator (SL‐TENG) and matched closed‐loop feedback circuit (CLFC), that is capable of active sensing in a similar way to a stethoscope when it makes slight contact with the surface of object. The results report that the Δ V accuracy of TE‐CLSS could achieve 0.01 V, with relative error of measurement within 3%, and average response time of 0.205 s. Furthermore, it could sense the area change of the test material layers that accurately reach millimeter level, by which different grayscale values, colored inks, and oil paintings are successfully identified. This work gives a new insight into the future NDT technologies suitable for the identification of cultural relics.

Abstract Triboelectric nanogenerators with a large number of desirable advantages, such as flexibility, light weight, and easy integration, are unique for sensor design. In this paper, based on the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), a cylindrical self‐powered multifunctional sensor (MS) with a translational‐rotary magnetic mechanism is proposed, which has the capacity to detect acceleration, force, and rotational parameters. The MS can transform a translational motion into a swing motion or a multicircle rotational motion of a low damping magnetic cylinder around a friction layer and hence drives the TENG to generate voltages output. For enhancing the output performance of the TENG, an electrode material with small work function, low resistance, and suitable surface topography is the best choice. According to the structure characteristic of the translational‐rotary magnetic mechanism, the MS can easily respond to a weak striking and can be used to measure the rotational parameters without the need of coaxial installation. Based on the MS, some applications are established, for example measuring the punch acceleration of a boxer, the hitting force and swing angle of golf club, which demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the MS and exhibit that the MS could find applications in sports.

Large strain plasticity is phenomenologically defined as the ability of a material to exhibit an exceptionally large deformation rate during mechanical deformation. It is a property that is well established for metals and alloys but is rarely observed for ceramic materials especially at low temperature (∼300 K). With the reduction in dimensionality, however, unusual mechanical properties are shown by ceramic nanomaterials. In this Letter, we demonstrated unusually large strain plasticity of ceramic SiC nanowires (NWs) at temperatures close to room temperature that was directly observed in situ by a novel high-resolution transmission electron microscopy technique. The continuous plasticity of the SiC NWs is accompanied by a process of increased dislocation density at an early stage, followed by an obvious lattice distortion, and finally reaches an entire structure amorphization at the most strained region of the NW. These unusual phenomena for the SiC NWs are fundamentally important for understanding the nanoscale fracture and strain-induced band structure variation for high-temperature semiconductors. Our result may also provide useful information for further studying of nanoscale elastic−plastic and brittle−ductile transitions of ceramic materials with superplasticity.

Current clothing trends: A wearable and flexible fiber supercapacitor with a fully encapsulated electrolyte is formed by wrapping a plastic wire covered with ZnO nanowires (NWs; see SEM image) around a Kevlar fiber covered with gold-coated ZnO NWs. This supercapacitor shows promise as a highly efficient, wearable energy storage device. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as "Supporting Information". Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.