POS6-0408
Deborah Number-Governed Surface Roughness Control of Sulfur-Rich Polymer Film via Micro-Scale Surface Tearing for High-Performance Triboelectric Nanogenerator
Topic
S6. Emerging Polymer and Hybrid Materials for Advanced Energy Storage and Conversion
When and Where
Sep 29, 2026
08:30 - 09:30
Room 301 (Grand Ballroom)
Session Chairs
Hae Jung SON
Boseok KANG
Presenter(s)
Minji Bak (Hanyang university)
Co-Author(s)
Abstract
Surface engineering of contact layers in triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) is critical for enhancing output performance, as interfacial morphology directly influences contact area and the surface charge generation. However, conventional chemical or micro/nano-patterning approaches rely on environmentally concerning reagents and complex, poorly scalable processes, motivating the need for a more sustainable and efficient strategy. In this study, we develop a mechanically governed surface engineering strategy using sulfur-rich polymers, a sustainable class of tribo-negative materials derived from waste elemental sulfur. During film fabrication, peel-off of a temporary superstrate provides a simple yet powerful means to control the Deborah number (De) by coupling the tunable relaxation time of the polymer with the system time scale imposed by the peeling speed. This control enables deterministic selection of surface-structuring mode, yielding smooth delamination in the De < 1 regime or cohesive micro-tearing in the De > 1 regime. The latter generates periodic surface cavities that drive surface roughening, enabling precise roughness tuning from 0.8 to 3.4 μm. As a result, the TENG output performance is significantly improved with the power density increasing by a factor of 13.7 while maintaining stable operation over 24 h. Consequently, this strategy successfully unlocks the full potential of sulfur-rich polymers as sustainable, high-performance materials for next-generation TENGs.
