Graphene-Based Vitrimeric Ink with Self-Healing Properties Enables Simple E-Textile Triboelectric Coating Development

Advances in research in electronic textiles (E-textiles) that primarily cater to wearable sensing technology have found amalgamation with self-powered technology, especially with triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). However, developing E-textiles with triboelectric properties involves a multi-step process and a complex device structure, which is unsuitable for actual wearables. Also, the cellulose-based fabrics with the highest wearability are unsuitable for TENG fabrication, limiting the usage to synthetic fabrics. Apart from wearability, self-healing behavior is another significant property recently being looked upon for wearable sensors, providing long-term functionality. Herein, a simple yet effective approach is proposed to develop dielectrically optimized coatings for developing cellulose fabric-based self-powered sensors by leveraging elastomers with tunable dielectric and other properties, otherwise catering to the domain of electronic skin separately. The record high output performance with a power density of 4.69 W m-2 accomplished using a single fabric layer with a thickness of 0.56 mm supports the amalgamation of dielectrically optimized elastomeric coatings with textiles for next-generation self-powered wearables. Also, the strategic utilization of dynamic covalent chemistry imparted self-healing properties to the coating. This report provides a single-step dip coating method for developing a self-powered and self-healable next-generation E-textile.