Abstract:
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which is often used in triboelectric nanogenerators, is a kind of hyperelastic polymer. However, the theoretical analysis of PDMS has made use of the linear elastic constitutive assumption in so far, and its effectiveness has not been proved by experiments. Firstly, the contact mechanics and electrostatic induction performance of PDMS triboelectric nanogenerators were simulated based on the hyperelastic constitutive equation. Secondly, PDMS pyramid texture was prepared by photolithography and replica technique. Finally, the test rig for triboelectric nanogenerators was constructed, and the experimental and theoretical results were compared. The results show that the contact area and open-circuit voltage of triboelectric nanogenerators increase with the increase of applied pressure first and then tend to be stable. Compared with the hyperelastic constitutive relation, the linear elastic constitutive relation overestimates the contact area between the metal and PDMS, and therefore underestimates the pressure required to stabilize the open-circuit voltage of triboelectric nanogenerators. The simulation results based on the hyperelastic PDMS constitutive relation are more consistent with the experimental results.