Ar plasma treated polytetrafluoroethylene films for a highly efficient triboelectric generator

We report an Ar plasma treated polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film based triboelectric device for a highly enhanced electric power generation. The plasma treatment of the PTFE in flowing Ar gas results in a sharp increase in surface roughness (~46 nm), as compared with the as-received film (~25 nm). In addition, the F ion content decreases whereas the O ion increases with increasing plasma reaction time. Because of the increased number of polar O ions, the surface becomes hydrophilic, as confirmed by water contact angle measurements. After the Ar plasma treatment, the PTFE based triboelectric device, which is periodically contacted with and separated from the ITO electrode, generates a 715 V open-circuit voltage and a 16 μA closed-circuit current, which are almost 79 and 32 times larger than those for as-received PTFE based device. Using the Ar plasma treated PTFE based triboelectric generator, we can turn on the 120 light emitting diodes (LEDs) without any batteries.