Imine-vitrimer elastomer enabled triboelectric nanogenerators with remarkable electrical output and circular life cycles

A vitrimer elastomer based TENG with ultra-high electrical output and circular life cycles is developed by combining dynamic covalent chemistry and TENG technologies. The developed TENG can power over 2400 commercial LEDs, showcasing the great potential for high-sensitivity traffic sensors. Besides, efficient self-healing and recycling of tribolayer are achieved, ensuring its consistently high performance. [Display omitted] •Flexible and compressible imine-vitrimer based TENGs was fabricated successfully.•The developed TENG possess ultra-high electrical output which can power 2400 LEDs.•Efficient self-healing and recycling of tribolayer are achieved by imine exchange.•It can be used as a high-sensitivity traffic sensors in actual working conditions. Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has garnered significant attention as a promising technology for energy harvesters and flexible electronics. However, the current state-of-the-art TENGs suffer from the low electrical output and limited lifespan, which pose significant obstacles to their broader implementation. Therefore, a TENG with ultra-high electrical output and circular life cycles is developed by combining dynamic covalent chemistry and TENG technologies. Specifically, imine-vitrimer elastomers (IVEs) with excellent compression resilience are synthesized and utilized to fabricate TENG as an electronegative tribolayer. The assembled TENG can generate ∼18-fold higher electrical charge density than traditional PTFE-based TENG. This substantial improvement enables the TENG to power over 2400 commercial LEDs, showcasing the great potential for high-sensitivity traffic sensors and energy intensive devices. Moreover, to solve inevitable wear or tear of the tribolayers during mechanical friction, efficient self-healing and recycling of the tribolayer are achieved, ensuring consistently high electrical output and durability. This study provides a new sight to fabricate the next generation TENG with high performance and circular life cycles.