Abstract
Electronics mimicking the attributes and functionalities of skins have been termed as electronic skins. They have shown promising potential in wide areas, ranging from wearable and skin-attachable electronics, smart human-device interfaces, robotics, to prosthetics. Conventional passive sensing technologies (such as resistive, capacitive, and optical electronic skins) suffer from the energy issues, limited materials, and complicated device architectures, hindering the development of untethered and deformable electronic and robotic skins. In contrast, TENG yields unique advantages such as self-powered sensing, abundant materials selection, simple structure, cost-effectiveness, and manufacturability, which can impart the fields of electronic and robotic skins with many possibilities that cannot be realized before. In this chapter, the TENG-based electronic and robotic skins will be introduced by classifying them into the following categories: stretchable, transparent, breathable, self-healable, harsh-environment tolerant, environment-friendly, biocompatible, and mechanoluminescent electronic skins. Afterward, the TENG-based skins used in rigid and soft robots will be discussed. Some representative works will be selected to show the immense potential of TENGs in electronic and robotic skins. Finally, challenges and summary of TENG-based electronic and robotic skins will be discussed.
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Lai, YC., Liu, R., Xu, M., Zhao, C. (2023). Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Electronic and Robotic Skins. In: Wang, Z.L., Yang, Y., Zhai, J., Wang, J. (eds) Handbook of Triboelectric Nanogenerators. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05722-9_53-1
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