Polydimethylsiloxane modified with yeast cells for wearable triboelectric nanogenerator with enhanced energy conversion performance

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is one of the forefront technologies in energy harvesting, which can convert mechanical energy into electricity. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has been widely used as a friction layer for TENGs due to its high electron affinity and flexibility. In this work, a novel and green approach to fabricating a high-performance PDMS TENG is proposed by using yeast cells. Porous-structured PDMS produced by the formation of CO 2 products of a fermentation reaction of baker’s yeast is found to significantly improve the TENG performance. The effects of yeast cell concentration in PDMS on morphologies, chemical composition, and TENG performance of the porous PDMS films are investigated. It is found that the average pore size formed in PDMS film depends on yeast cell concentration, which affects the electrical outputs of TENG. The modified PDMS TENG showed improved TENG performance with the highest power density at 5.14 w/m 2 . The application of the fabricated porous PDMS to harness mechanical energy from body movement is demonstrated. Our work has presented a novel and effective technique using a biological approach to modify PDMS into a porous structure using yeast cells, which has the potential for flexible and wearable TENG to harvest mechanical energy from body movement. Graphical abstract