Room-temperature Self-healing and Recyclable PDMS Elastomers with Superior Mechanical Properties for Triboelectric Nanogenerators

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is an electron-withdrawing material that is widely used in triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). However, PDMS has poor mechanical properties after curing and is easily damaged when subjected to long-term workloads. Thus, the long-term stable operation of TENGs under mechanical deformation cannot be guaranteed. In this work, multiple hydrogen bonds and aromatic disulfide bonds were introduced into PDMS elastomers. These elastomers exhibited high toughness (a tensile strength of 1.91 MPa and an elongation at break of 340%), good recyclability, and room-temperature self-healing properties (healing efficiency of 96.4% in 24 h). Recyclable sandwich-like triboelectric nanogenerators with excellent electrical output performance (13.5 V) and room-temperature self-healing performance (24 h, 98% recovery of self-generating performance) were prepared by utilizing the hydrogen bonding between the PDMS elastomer and MXene. The work reported herein offers theoretical guidance and a compelling strategy for developing high-performance TENG negative friction layers.