Development of composite fluorinated polyimide films with simultaneous improvement of wear resistance and triboelectric performance

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) hold great promise for micro/nano-energy harvesting and self-powered electronics, yet their development is hindered by the intrinsic trade-off between wear resistance and triboelectric performance. Materials with excellent triboelectric properties often exhibit poor wear resistance, creating a fundamental trade-off between high power output and mechanical durability. Herein, this study introduces composite fluorination to synergistically enhance both wear resistance and triboelectric performance in polyimide films. We fabricated both thermally cured and UV-cured fluorinated polyimide films, systematically investigating the effects of composite fluorination on the comprehensive material properties and wear resistance characteristics of polyimide. Furthermore, we elucidated the underlying mechanism responsible for the enhanced triboelectric performance in composite fluorinated polyimide films, with specific emphasis on analyzing charge transfer behavior variations before and after polarization. Compared to pristine polyimide, the fluorinated composite sample exhibited a markedly lower coefficient of friction of 0.04, which corresponds to a reduction of 89.5 %. Meanwhile, its surface charge density increased by 77.3 %, from 71.5 µC·m −2 to 126.8 µC·m −2 . This work presents a viable strategy for co-optimizing wear resistance and triboelectric performance in triboelectric materials, thereby enabling their practical implementation in sustainable energy harvesting systems while accelerating the development of high-performance triboelectric materials and advanced TENG devices.