Effect of argon plasma treatment on the output performance of triboelectric nanogenerator

• Published in: Applied surface science Vol. 412; pp. 350 - 356
• Main Authors: Cheng, Guang-Gui, Jiang, Shi-Yu, Li, Kai, Zhang, Zhong-Qiang, Wang, Ying, Yuan, Ning-Yi, Ding, Jian-Ning, Zhang, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.08.2017
• Subjects: Output performance; PDMS film; Plasma treatment; Triboelectric generator; Triboelectric generator; Output performance; Plasma treatment; PDMS film
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.03.255

•Two different kinds of PDMS films were prepared by spin-coated.•The PDMS surface was plasma treated with different power and time.•The output performance of TENG was significantly enhanced by plasma treatment.•Plasma treatment effect has time-efficient, the output declines with store time. Physical and chemical properties of the polymer surface play great roles in the output performance of triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). Specific texture on the surface of polymer can enlarge the contact area and enhance the power output performance of TENG. In this paper, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) films with smooth and micro pillar arrays on the surface were prepared respectively. The surfaces were treated by argon plasma before testing their output performance. By changing treatment parameters such as treating time and plasma power, surfaces with different roughness and their relationship were achieved. The electrical output performances of the assembled TENG for each specimen showed that argon plasma treatment has a significant etching effect on the PDMS surface and greatly strengthen its output performance. The average surface roughness of PDMS film increases with the etching time from 5mins to 15 mins when the argon plasma power is 60W. Nevertheless, the average surface roughness is inversely proportional to the treatment time for the power of 90W. When treated with 90W and 5mins, many uniform micro pillars appeared on the both PDMS surface, and the output performance of the TENG for plasma treated smooth surface is 2.6 times larger than that before treatment. The output voltage increases from 42V to 72V, and the short circuit current increases from 4.2μA to 8.3μA after plasma treatment of the micro pillar array surface. However, this plasma treatment has time-efficient due to the hydrophobic recovery property of Ar plasma treated PDMS surface, both output voltage and short circuit current decrease significantly after 3 months.