Article- A Smart, Fabric-based Borophene Nanocomposite for Medical-assistive Technology and

Wearable Therapeutics

Wearable electronic is still a fairly new field of research and as a result it has yet to gain widespread
acceptance. However, lately, there has been a growing realization about its potential applications
and therefore, wearable electronic systems are becoming an emerging trend and are expected to be
revolutionary in many applications. Wearables such as smart watches, fitness trackers,
hearables/earwear, smart glasses, and smart clothes — have only been around for a relatively short
time, but they already comprise a robust multi-billion-dollar global market that’s expected to see
stronger growth ahead.

Wearable devices in healthcare allow consumers to collect information about their personal health
and exercise by wearing electronic devices such as wearable fitness trackers, smart health watches,
wearable ECG monitors, wearable blood pressure monitors, wearable biosensors and so on. These
devices provide continuous monitoring of several physiological parameters, such as blood sugar
levels, temperature, breathing pattern and blood pressure. This data either helps in monitoring
health parameters in the clinic itself or can be sent remotely to physicians so as to have real-time
access to their health data and minimize problems. Continuing evolution in wearable technology is
opening the way for the development of advanced devices in the healthcare sector. According to a
new market study published by Global Industry Analysts Inc., (GIA) the premier market research
company, “the global market for Wearable Medical Devices estimated at US$20.7 Billion in the year
2022, is projected to reach a revised size of US$38.9 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 15.8%
over the analysis period”.

One of the important challenges facing today, is how to provide power to these devices and find
ways to overcome them. Power generation that converts other forms of energy into electricity, can
be divided into electromagnetic [a], photoelectric [b], piezoelectric [c] or electrostatic [d] types
(Figure 1) (Advances and prospects of triboelectric nanogenerator for self-powered system).

Figure 1. Traditional types of electric power generation (right)

and new types of electric power generation by nanogenerators (left)
“Xuyao An, Chunnan Wang, Ruomei Shao & Shuqing Sun (2021)
Advances and prospects of triboelectric nanogenerator for self-powered
system, International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials, 12:3, 233-255
, DOI: 10.1080/19475411.2021.1973143”
(Creative Commons CC BY license)
In general, the nanogenerators include piezoelectric nanogenerators, tribological nanogenerators
(TENG) and pyroelectric nanogenerators (Advances and prospects of triboelectric nanogenerator for
self-powered system). TENG is one of the most promising strategies applied in the conversion of
mechanical movements into pulsed electric energy and would provide an appropriate solution to
overcome the above-mentioned hurdle of powering the wearables. By the combination of
triboelectric effect and electrostatic induction, TENGs can collect microscale mechanical energy and
convert it into electric energy. Its high conversion efficiency for low-frequency frictions is unmatched
by any other similar technology. Generally, TENGs consist of vertical content-separation mode,
horizontal sliding mode, single electrode mode and independent layer mode. Through these four
simple structure modes, mechanical energy can be effectively converted to achieve the power
supply. Due to their advantages of high sensitivity, high integration, diverse forms, small size and low
cost, TENGs can provide power in various fields such as sensing, wearable devices and collecting
Marine energy. In addition, TENGs are available for nanoscale integration to build self-powered
systems to drive simple movements.

As reported in literature (Recent trends in 2D materials and their polymer composites for effectively
harnessing mechanical energy), various nanocomposites based on 2D materials used in triboelectric
nanogenerator, including Graphene/PDMS, PVDF-TrFE/Mxenes/Nylon11, PDMS/MoS2, PVA-
Mxene/silk fibroin, rGO/PVDF, Cellulose nanofibrils-phospherene/PET andNylon11-MoS2/PVDF-
TrFE- MoS2. In these nanocomposites polymer matrices provide provide several merits in terms of
their flexibility, scalability, stretchability, lightweight, and processability, but have poor mechanical
properties and a low melting temperature which limits their application in the high temperature
range. Whereas, the 2D materials are known for their superior mechanical properties. As a result,
the addition of even a small amount of 2D material in the polymer matrix can significantly boost its
mechanical properties (Mechanical properties of graphene and graphene-based nanocomposites).

Borophene (2D boron sheet) has fueled a surge of interest both theoretically and experimentally
because of its exceptional structural, optical and electronic properties for extensive promising
applications. Due to the unique physical and chemical properties, borophene has various prospective
applications, including alkali metal ion batteries, Li-S batteries, hydrogen storage, supercapacitor,
sensor and catalytic in hydrogen evolution, catalysis, gas sensing, fuel cells,superconductors, oxygen
reduction, oxygen evolution, CO2 electroreduction reaction and biomedicine (Borophene Is a
Promising 2D Allotropic Material for Biomedical Devices) etc. The biomedical applications include
sensors for medical devices, DNA sequencing, radiology for medical applications, bioimaging, drug
delivery, and photonic therapy, therapeutic applications including cancer treatment, and
microorganism-related health issues.

TENGS have been widely applied for healthcare applications (Triboelectric nanogenerators for
human-health care), including human health monitoring (physiological characteristics- body
temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen consumption and blood glucose); power and
generator sources for human-health monitoring; disinfection and sterilization; air purification;
cytology and biology related applications; wound healing; gait phase monitoring; wearable assistive;
in vitro pacemaker; and electronic skins etc.

Wound healing, one of the most complicated processes in the human body, involves the spatial
(concept of space) and temporal (concept of time) synchronization of a variety of cell types engaged
in distinct roles. Slow or nonhealing skin wounds could have potentially life-threatening
consequences, ranging from infection to scar, clot, and haemorrhage. Recently, (Triboelectric
Nanogenerators for Self-Powered Wound Healing) the advent of triboelectric nanogenerators
(TENGs) has brought about a cornucopia of self-powered wound healing opportunities, owing to
their salient features, including wide range choices of specific biocompatible materials, ease of
fabrication, portable size, high output power, and low cost.

In the present work, the first phase involves the preparation of Borophene nanosheets via liquid
exfoliation process (Borophene: Freestanding Borophene and Its Hybrids), subsequently, these
nanosheets were blended in solution with ecoflex (highly biodegradable biopolymer supplied by
BASF) to synthesize borophene/ecoflex nanocomposite. This nanocomposite was combined with
Borophene-TENG (B-TENG) to fabricate a conducting electrode of B-TENG device. Finally, the
polyester fabric as a positive triboelectric layer was introduced to be integrated with the
nanocomposite layer to produce a B-TENG device.

Figure 1. a) A schematic integration process of producing B-TENG. b) Schematic illustration of the

working mechanism of B-TENG. c) Output voltage of B-TENG with different borophene concentrations.
The inset shows the output comparison between optimal (20 wt%) and pristine device (0 wt%).
A schematic process of fabricating borophene/ecoflex nanocomposite (Ecoflex-B) is shown in Figure
1a. The Ecoflex-B consists of a layer of ecoflex, borophene NS, and carbon fiber (CF), where the CF
serves as the flexible electrode material. The as-fabricated Ecoflex-B was further combined with a
nylon-coated fabric to form a B-TENG. Figure 1b illustrates the working mechanism of B-TENG. There
are four stages within the contact separation process, denoted as (i) to (iv). When the polyester
contacts with Ecoflex-B, charges would be transferred from the polyester to Ecoflex-B due to a
higher surface electron affinity. When the polyester separates from Ecoflex-B, the negative charges
will induce positive charges on CF to compensate the triboelectric charges, causing the electrons to
flow from the CF to the ground. This process generates an output signal. When the negative
triboelectric charges are balanced by the induced positive charges, no output signals are detected.
When the polyester approaches Ecoflex-B, the positive charges on CF will decrease, causing the
electrons flow from the ground to CF until the polyester and Ecoflex-B become fully in contact again,
causing a reversed output signal. The corresponding simulated electric potential distribution of B-
TENG within the operation process was investigated by using COMSOL Multiphysics software.
Optimization of mixture conditions is the key to achieving reliable output performance of
nanocomposite-based TENGs. ( A Novel MXene/Ecoflex Nanocomposite-Coated Fabric as a Highly
Negative and Stable Friction Layer for High-Output Triboelectric Nanogenerators) Herein, the output
performances of B-TENG with different mixture conditions are investigated in Figure 1c. It can be
found that the output performance of B-TENG increases with higher concentration of borophene
NSs. The maximum output performance was obtained at 20 wt%, where the output voltage and the
current were up to 120 V and 20 μA in comparison with the pristine device. The enhancement of
output performance could be correlated with the addition of borophene NSs regarded as an electron
acceptor medium.
Author: Yashwant Mahajan, Former Scientist, DRDO/ARC-I