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Adopting self-healing, robust, and stretchable materials is a promising method to enable next-generation wearable electronic devices, touch screens, and soft robotics. Both elasticity and self-healing are important qualities for substrate materials as they comprise the majority of device components. However, most autonomous self-healing materials reported to date have poor elastic properties, i.e., they possess only modest mechanical strength and recoverability. Here, a substrate material designed is reported based on a combination of dynamic metal-coordinated bonds (β-diketone-europium interaction) and hydrogen bonds together in a multiphase separated network. Importantly, this material is able to undergo self-healing and exhibits excellent elasticity. The polymer network forms a microphase-separated structure and exhibits a high stress at break (≈1.8 MPa) and high fracture strain (≈900%). Additionally, it is observed that the substrate can achieve up to 98% self-healing efficiency after 48 h at 25 °C, without the need of any external stimuli. A stretchable and self-healable dielectric layer is fabricated with a dual-dynamic bonding polymer system and self-healable conductive layers are created using polymer as a matrix for a silver composite. These materials are employed to prepare capacitive sensors to demonstrate a stretchable and self-healable touch pad., (© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Electric eel-skin-inspired mechanically durable and super-stretchable nanogenerator is demonstrated for the first time by using triboelectric effect. This newly designed nanogenerator can produce electricity by touch or tapping despite under various extreme mechanical deformations or even after experiencing damage. This device can be used not only as deformable and wearable power source but also as fully autonomous and self-sufficient adaptive electronic skin system., (© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Two-dimensional finite-element simulation of the piezo-phototronic effect in p-n-junction-based devices is carried out for the first time. A charge channel can be induced at the p-n junction interface when strain is applied, given the n-side is a piezoelectric semiconductor and the p-type side is non-piezoelectric semiconductor. This provides the first simulated evidence supporting the previously suggested mechanism responsible for the experimentally observed gigantic change of light-emission efficiency in piezo-phototronic light-emitting devices., (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

For the maximization of the surface charge density in triboelectric nanogenerators, a new method of injecting single-polarity ions onto surfaces is introduced for the generation of surface charges. The triboelectric nanogenerator's output power gets greatly enhanced and its maximum surface charge density is systematically studied, which shows a huge room for the improvement of the output of triboelectric nanogenerators by surface modification., (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

A newly-designed triboelectric nanogenerator is demonstrated which is composed of a grating-segmented freestanding triboelectric layer and two groups of interdigitated electrodes with the same periodicity. The sliding motion of the grating units across the electrode fingers can be converted into multiple alternating currents through the external load due to the contact electrification and electrostatic induction. Working in non-contact mode, the device shows excellent stability and the total conversion efficiency can reach up to 85% at low operation frequency., (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

For versatile mechanical energy harvesting from arbitrary moving objects such as humans, a new mode of triboelectric nanogenerator is developed based on the sliding of a freestanding triboelectric-layer between two stationary electrodes on the same plane. With two electrodes alternatively approached by the tribo-charges on the sliding layer, electricity is effectively generated due to electrostatic induction. A unique feature of this nanogenerator is that it can operate in non-contact sliding mode, which greatly increases the lifetime and the efficiency of such devices., (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

A one-dimensional displacement and speed sensing technology that consists of a pair of micro-grating structures and utilizes the coupling between the triboelectric effect and electrostatic induction is demonstrated. Its distinct advantages, including being self-powered, high resolution, large dynamic range, and long detecting distance, show extensive potential applications in automation, manufacturing, process control, and portable devices., (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is a powerful approach toward new energy technology, especially for portable electronics. A theoretical model for the sliding-mode TENG is presented in this work. The finite element method was utilized to characterize the distributions of electric potential, electric field, and charges on the metal electrodes of the TENG. Based on the FEM calculation, the semi-analytical results from the interpolation method and the analytical V-Q-x relationship are built to study the sliding-mode TENG. The analytical V-Q-x equation is validated through comparison with the semi-analytical results. Furthermore, based on the analytical V-Q-x equation, dynamic output performance of sliding-mode TENG is calculated with arbitrary load resistance, and good agreement with experimental data is achieved. The theory presented here is a milestone work for in-depth understanding of the working mechanism of the sliding-mode TENG, and provides a theoretical basis for further enhancement of the sliding-mode TENG for both energy scavenging and self-powered sensor applications., (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

A flexible oxygen sensor based on individual ZnO nanowires is demonstrated with high sensitivity at room temperature and the influence of the piezotronic effect on the performance of this oxygen sensor is investigated. By applying a tensile strain, the already very high sensitivity due to the Schottky contact and pre-treatment of UV light is even further enhanced., (Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The piezo-phototronic effect on transport properties of flexible CdSe NW devices is investigated. An optimum sensitivity of the flexible CdSe NW devices can be achieved by adjusting the applied strain and illumination intensity. The piezo-phototronic effect under compressive strain increases the internal electric field of the Schottky barrier, and assists the separation of the photo-excited electron-hole pairs, resulting in the increase of photocurrent. A trap-mediated mechanism is responsible for the decreased hole separation when the strain is larger than the critical strain., (Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The transport properties of GaN nanobelts (NBs) are tuned using a piezotronic effect when a compressive/tensile strain is applied on the GaN NB. This is mainly due to a change in Schottky barrier height (SBH). A theoretical model is proposed to explain the observed phenomenon., (Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)