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Array-designed triboelectric nanogenerators (AD-TENGs) have firmly established themselves as state-of-the-art technologies for adeptly converting mechanical interactions into electrical signals. Central to the AD-TENG's prowess is its inherent modularity and the multifaceted, grid-like design that pave the way to robust and adaptable detection platforms for wearables and real-time health monitoring systems. In this review, we aim to elucidate the quintessential role of array design in AD-TENGs for healthcare detection, emphasizing its ability to heighten sensitivity, spatial resolution, and dynamic monitoring while ensuring redundancy and simultaneous multi-detection. We begin from the fundamental aspects, such as working principles and design basis, then venture into methodologies for optimizing AD-TENGs that ensure the capture of intricate physiological changes, from nuanced muscle movements to sensitive electronic skin. After this, our exploration extends to the possible cutting-edge electronic systems that are built with specific advantages in filtering noise, magnifying signal-to-noise ratios, and interpreting complex real-time datasets on the basis of AD-TENGs. Culminating our discourse, we highlight the challenges and prospective pathways in the evolution of array-designed AD-TENGs, stressing the necessity to refine their sensitivity, adaptability, and reliability to perfectly align with the exacting demands of contemporary healthcare diagnostics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexible electronic sensors composed of flexible film and conductive materials play an increasingly important role in wearable and internet information transmission. It has received more and more attention and made some progress over the decades. However, it is still a great challenge to prepare biocompatible and highly transparent conductive films. Egg white is a pure natural protein‐rich material. Hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose has a good compatibility and high transparency, which is an ideal material for flexible sensors. Here, we overcome the problem of poor mechanical flexibility and electrical conductivity of protein, and develop a high transparency and good flexibility hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose/egg white protein composite membrane‐based triboelectric nanogenerator ('X'‐TENG). The experimental results show that the flexible pressure sensor based on 'X'‐TENG has a high sensitivity, fast response speed, and low detection limit. It can even be used as a touch/pressure sensing artificial electronic skin. It can also be made into an intelligent waffle keyboard for recording and tracking users of the keyboard. Our strategy may provide a new way to easily build flexible electronic sensors and move toward practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of smart devices and electronic products puts forward higher requirements for power supply components. As a promising solution, hybrid energy harvesters that are based on a triboelectric nanogenerator (HEHTNG) show advantages of both high energy harvesting efficiency and multifunctionality. Aiming to systematically elaborate the latest research progress of a HEHTNG, this review starts by introducing its working principle with a focus on the combination of triboelectric nanogenerators with various other energy harvesters, such as piezoelectric nanogenerators, thermoelectric/pyroelectric nanogenerators, solar cells, and electromagnetic nanogenerators. While the performance improvement and integration strategies of HEHTNG toward environmental energy harvesting are emphasized, the latest applications of HEHTNGs as multifunctional sensors in human health detection are also illustrated. Finally, we discuss the main challenges and prospects of HEHTNGs, hoping that this work can provide a clear direction for the future development of intelligent energy harvesting systems for the Internet of Things. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) stand out for their wearability, portability, and versatility as a promising energy‐harvesting technology and facilitate their wide self‐powered intelligent applications in various medical fields. However, there are few studies on sterilization and mite removal. Herein, a wearable and antibacterial sandwich‐structured single‐electrode chitosan‐hydroxyethyl cellulose‐pectin (CHP) ‐ polypyrrole (PPy) ‐ CHP(CHP‐PPy‐CHP) triboelectric nanogenerator (CPC‐TENG) by utilizing CHP composite film as the triboelectric layer is proposed and developed. The CPC‐TENG exhibits a maximum short‐circuit current density of 12.99 µA cm−2, resulting in a high instantaneous power of 287 µW during one cycle. It is found that the prepared CPC‐TENG with 11 wt% chitosan fillers has an antibacterial effectiveness of 92.86% against Escherichia coli. Moreover, The CPC‐TENG can be used as a self‐powered human motion monitoring sensor with stable and sensitive response to continuous motion. The antimicrobial and sensing properties of CPC‐TENG demonstrate the enormous potential of the intelligent health monitoring for medical and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have revolutionized energy harvesting and active sensing, holding tremendous potential in personalized healthcare, sustainable diagnoses, and green energy applications. In these scenarios, conductive polymers play a vital role in enhancing the performance of both TENG and TENG-based biosensors, enabling the development of flexible, wearable, and highly sensitive diagnostic devices. This review summarizes the impact of conductive polymers on TENG-based sensors, focusing on their contributions to triboelectric properties, sensitivity, detection limits, and wearability. We discuss various strategies for incorporating conductive polymers into TENG-based biosensors, promoting the creation of innovative and customizable devices tailored for specific healthcare applications. Additionally, we consider the potential of integrating TENG-based sensors with energy storage devices, signal conditioning circuits, and wireless communication modules, ultimately leading to the development of advanced, self-powered diagnostic systems. Finally, we outline the challenges and future directions in developing TENGs that integrate conducting polymers for personalized healthcare, emphasizing the need to improve biocompatibility, stability, and device integration for practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have potential applications as active sensors or energy harvesters in self‐powered sensors and systems as they enable harvesting and conversion of mechanical energy into electrical energy. TENG development allows high‐efficiency energy harvesting capability and outstanding sensing characteristics, such as excellent output performance, high durability, reliable stability, easy integration, and convenient fabrication, among others. A triboelectric foam (T‐Foam) composed of a foam material with an embedded soft electrode is proposed in this study. The T‐Foam inherits the dominant mechanical properties of the foam material, which allows it to be freely folded, compressed, and kneaded, as well as immediate recovery upon stimulus withdrawal. The durability and stability of the T‐Foam are tested for a 0.1842 g sample; after stamping 14 times with a 158.6 lb tester, its output performance remained nearly identical. These properties indicate that the T‐Foam can be easily integrated into products, such as insoles, schoolbags, and seat mats, to build smart applications for motion, health, and safety monitoring. When driven by a polytetrafluoroethylene plate, a T‐Foam sample of 135 × 135 × 25 mm3 exhibits considerable energy harvesting capability, with the output power as high as 5.46 mW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Distributed environmental mechanical energy is rarely collected due to its fluctuating amplitudes and low frequency, which is usually attributed as “random” energy. Considering the rapid development of the Internet of things (IoT), there is a great need for a large number of distributed and sustainable power sources. Here, a natural leaf assembled triboelectric nanogenerator (Leaf‐TENG) is designed by utilizing the green leaf as an electrification layer and electrode to effectively harvest environmental mechanical energy. The Leaf‐TENG with good adaptability has the maximum output power of ≈45 mW m−2, which is capable of driving advertising LEDs and commercial electronic temperature sensors. Besides, a tree‐shaped energy harvester is integrated with natural Leaf‐TENG to harvest large‐area environmental mechanical energy. This work provides a new prospect for distributed and environmental‐friendly power sources and has potential applications in the IoT and self‐powered systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: With the fast development of supercapacitor and triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), it is now possible to fabricate biomimetic pressure sensors with high flexibility and sustainability. Herein, an ultrathin supercapacitor is fabricated with the paper sheet and the solid electrolyte for storing energy generated by TENG. With a sandwich design, the triboelectrodes sandwiched within the two solid supercapacitors can not only store electrical energy by a wireless energy transfer mode but also help TENG imitate the receptor's unique characteristics by simultaneously measuring both static and dynamic pressures in a self‐driven mode. In addition, the voltage of the supercapacitor increases linearly with the vibration times, which hints that this integrated device also endows functions such as vibration counting and frequency computing. This work contributes to new strategies for making multifunctional biomimetic electronics that promote the development of artificial intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) and electromagnetic generators (EMGs) are hybridized together to harvest ambient mechanical energy. The TENGs employ a circle‐in‐circle structure and therefore act as a support for the EMG's magnet. The EMG possesses a double‐coil construction and works under external motions or vibrations. The outputs of the hybrid generators are systematically investigated. It is found that, a 1000 µF capacitor can be charged to 1.69 V after five cycles of vibrations. Therefore, the hybrid device can be applied as a self‐powered portable power bank to charge lithium batteries, cell phones, and to directly drive electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trends in miniaturization of electronic devices give rise to the attention of energy harvesting technologies that gathers tiny wattages of power. Here this study demonstrates an ultrathin flexible single electrode triboelectric nanogenerator (S-TENG) which not only could harvest mechanical energy from human movements and ambient sources, but also could sense instantaneous force without extra energy. The S-TENG, which features an extremely simple structure, has an average output current of 78 μA, lightening up at least 70 LEDs (light-emitting diode). Even tapped by bare finger, it exhibits an output current of 1 μA. The detection sensitivity for instantaneous force sensing is about 0.947 μA MPa−1. Performances of the device are also systematically investigated under various motion types, press force, and triboelectric materials. The S-TENG has great application prospects in sustainable wearable devices, sustainable medical devices, and smart wireless sensor networks owning to its thinness, light weight, energy harvesting, and sensing capacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since the discovery of triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) by Wang's group in January 2012, various breakthroughs have been achieved in the fundamental mechanisms of TENG as well as the demonstrated self-powered systems. TENG has shown many advantages in micro-scale energy harvesting for applications in sensors and portable devices. As a self-sufficient power source, TENG can be used in conjunction with electrochemical processes as self-powered electrochemistry without the use of external power source. This review mainly focuses on the updated progress in TENGs for both high performance energy conversion and self-powered electrochemical systems in application such as water splitting, sea water desalination, air pollution cleaning, degradation of organic pollutant, collecting of heavy metal ions and many more. The idea of performing electrochemistry without using an external power could be useful for large-scale application in environmental science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have shown exciting applications in mechanical energy harvesting and self-powered sensing. Aiming at commercial applications, cost reduction and simplification of TENG structures are of great interest. In this work, a lightweight TENG based on the integration of polymer nanowires and a carbon sponge, which serves both as the substrate and an electrode, are reported. Because of the low density of the carbon sponge and the filmy nanowires, the device exhibits a total mass of less than 0.1 g for a volume of 12.5 cm3 and it produces a short-circuit current of 6 μA, open-circuit voltage of 75 V, and a maximum output power of 0.28 W kg−1 under light finger tapping. The device can linearly measure the acceleration at a detection limit down to 0.25 m s−2 and for a detection range from 0.25 m s−2 to 10.0 m s−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By harvesting the flowing kinetic energy of water using a rotating triboelectric nanogenerator (R-TENG), this study demonstrates a self-powered wastewater treatment system that simultaneously removes rhodamine B (RhB) and copper ions through an advanced electrochemical unit. With the electricity generated by R-TENG, the removal efficiency (RE) of RhB can reach the vicinity of 100% within just 15 min when the initial concentration of RhB is around 100 ppm at optimized conditions. The removal efficiency of copper ions can reach 97.3% after 3 h within an initial concentration of 150 ppm at an optimized condition. Importantly, a better performance and higher treating efficiency are found by using the pulsed output of R-TENG than those using direct current (DC) supply for pollutant removal when consuming equal amount of energy. The recovered copper layer on the cathode through R-TENG is much denser, more uniform, and with smaller grain size ( d = 20 nm) than those produced by DC process, which also hints at very promising applications of the R-TENG in electroplating industry. In light of the merits such as easy portability, low cost, and effectiveness, this R-TENG-based self-powered electrochemical system holds great potential in wastewater treatment and electroplating industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harvesting ambient mechanical energy is a key technology for realizing self-powered electronics, which has tremendous applications in wireless sensing networks, implantable devices, portable electronics, etc. The currently reported triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) mainly uses solid materials, so that the contact between the two layers cannot be 100% with considering the roughness of the surfaces, which greatly reduces the total charge density that can be transferred and thus the total energy conversion efficiency. In this work, a liquid-metal-based triboelectric nanogenerator (LM-TENG) is developed for high power generation through conversion of mechanical energy, which allows a total contact between the metal and the dielectric. Due to that the liquid-solid contact induces large contacting surface and its shape adaptive with the polymer thin films, the LM-TENG exhibits a high output charge density of 430 μC m−2, which is four to five times of that using a solid thin film electrode. And its power density reaches 6.7 W m−2 and 133 kW m−3. More importantly, the instantaneous energy conversion efficiency is demonstrated to be as high as 70.6%. This provides a new approach for improving the performance of the TENG for special applications. Furthermore, the liquid easily fluctuates, which makes the LM-TENG inherently suitable for vibration energy harvesting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal corrosion is universal in the nature and the corrosion prevention for metals plays an important role everywhere in national economic development and daily life. Here a disk triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with segmental structures is introduced as power source to achieve a special cathodic protection effect for steels. The output transferred charges and short-circuit current density of the TENG achieve 1.41 mC/min and 10.1 mA/m2, respectively, when the rotating speed is 1000 revolutions per minute (rpm). The cathodic protection potential, Tafel polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) measurements are measured to evaluate the corrosion protection effect for the 403 stainless steel (403SS). The cathodic protection potential range from -320 mV to -5320 mV is achieved by changing rotation speeds and external resistance when the steel is coupled in a 0.5 m NaCl solution to the negative pole of the disk TENG. The corrosion tests results indicate that the TENG can produce 59.1% degree of protection for Q235 steels in 0.5 m NaCl solution. Furthermore, an application of marine corrosion prevention is presented by mounting the TENG onto a buoy. This work demonstrates a versatile, cost-effect and self-powered system to scavenging mechanical energy from environment, leading to effectively protect the metal corrosion without additional power sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of Internet of things and sensor network, exploring distributed energy is important for their sustainable operation. Finding the best devices and suitable materials that can convert random mechanical energy into electric power has become a hot research topic. In this work, wheat straw, a biodegradable material, was utilized to fabricate single-electrode mode triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). Herein, the wheat straw TENG (WS-TENG) was applied to convert mechanical energy with low frequency and small amplitude into electrical energy. The maximum output power density of WS-TENG is 404 mW / m2, and more than 60 LEDs can be lit up. Moreover, the WS-TENG can not only charge capacitors but also power hygrometers, electronic watch and some other low-power portable electronic devices. Furthermore, the WS-TENG was designed as windmill and bionic lawn, which can be used as wind velocity sensor for detection of wind speed and wind direction. Because the WS-TENG is degradable, low-cost and portable, this work provides a novel solution for the advanced science technology to be applied in agricultural production and self-powered sensor for energy harvesting and energy application. [Display omitted] • The wheat straw triboelectric nanogenerator (WS-TENG) is firstly fabricated. • The WS-TENG is designed as windmill and bionic lawn to detect the wind speed and direction. • The WS-TENG provides a solution for the advanced science technology to be applied in agricultural production and self-powered sensor for energy harvesting and application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of Internet of things (IoTs), big data collection and analysis based on distributed sensing is particularly important. Here, we report a natural biodegradable wood-based triboelectric nanogenerator (W-TENG), which not only can produce high electric output to power microelectronic devices, but also can be used as a self-powered sensor. A pure natural biodegradable and pollution-free wood is used as the triboelectric material. The output voltage and current of the W-TENG (8 cm × 8 cm) is 220 ± 20 V and 5.8 ± 0.5 μA at a frequency of 2 Hz. The maximum output power density could be as high as 158.2 mW/m2 at a resistance of 50 MΩ. On this basis, The W-TENG can be widely used as self-powered light switch, self-powered doorbell which can realize the intelligent control of the lights and contribute to the energy conservation to a great extent. In addition, it can be designed as a smart floor and installed on the stage wooden floor to track and record the dancers' movements. Moreover, dancers can control the lights themselves through the floor under their feet. This W-TENG based self-powered system breaks new ground for wood-based electronics, which will have potential applications in big data analysis, smart home and smart city environments. Image 1 • A natural biodegradable wood-based triboelectric nanogenerator (W-TENG) is firstly fabricated. • The W-TENG not only can power microelectronic devices, but also can be used as a self-powered sensor. • The maximum output power density could be as high as 158.2 mW/m2 at a resistance of 50 MΩ. • The W-TENG has potential applications in big data analysis, smart home and smart city environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tires are important parts in creating a great transportation system because they can significantly improve the overall system safety and fuel/power efficiency. The latter is especially important for the mileage of electric vehicles due to the limited electrical storage capacity. Here, green energy tires are designed by incorporating silica tread rubber with triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). On the one hand, the silica‐based tread compound sharply cuts off the rolling resistance, improves fuel efficiency and reduces CO2 emissions, and provides all‐around traction without compromising braking. On the other hand, TENG converts frictional energy into electricity without changing the process of traditional tire production, which is able to be used for powering the electronics for automobile safety and automeasuring of tire pressure. The most important point lies in that TENG helps harness static electricity, which at present hinders the large‐scale application of silica‐filled green tires. Interestingly, it is also able to measure tire pressure and road condition from the changes in the output electrical signals, which thus leads to the smart applications of green energy tire in road/tire condition monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemical techniques have been extensively applied to treat heavy metal pollution in our daily life. Traditional electrochemistry is always driven by continuous DC (CDC), but the energy harvested in environment from water using nanogenerator is always a pulsed DC (PDC). The question is if the CDC has a better performance than PDC? Here, we systematically investigated the electrochemical performance of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) removal from wasted as powered by pulsed output of triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) using the energy harvested from environment. By optimizing the frequency and on-off ratio of PDC, the removal efficiency of Cr(VI) can be maximally enhanced by 53.5% compared to that driven by a CDC under equal amount of electric charges, which is further confirmed by electrochemical experiments driven by layered TENG. The reason is the more production of Fe2+, the better utilization of Fe2+, and the higher ion diffusion rate during the process driven by PDC, where the electrode passivation caused by concentration polarization of the anode region and over potential is reduced. Besides, a self-powered system is designed for removing contaminant from wastewater by harvesting energy from the flowing water through rotary-TENG, where heavy metal pollutant such as Cr(VI) can be sufficiently and continuously removed. This study demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of self-powered electrochemical for cleaning environment pollution using the harvested energy. A self-powered system with a pulsed DC output is used to remove Cr(VI) by harvesting energy from the flowing water through rotary-TENG for improving the removal efficiency of Cr(VI) and solving the extra power supply during electrochemical treatment. Image 1 • Our findings establish optimization methodologies for electrochemical removing Cr (VI). • A substantial improvement of electrochemical performance for removing Cr(VI) is achieved through using PDC. • Electrochemical reaction powered by TENG with pulse signal exhibits a higher removal efficiency than that of CDC. • A self-powered system based on TENG is fabricated to remove Cr(VI), which greatly lower the power consumption. • A promising application of the self-powered system is provided for energy saving and environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy harvesting and power delivery are key technologies for self‐powered systems toward the internet of things, and integration of the two should be prioritized. The dominant mechanism of a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is Maxwell's displacement current, which exists both inside the media/device and in the space surrounding the device. The displacement current transmitted in media inside the device can be collected by wired transmission using two electrodes, while the component that is leaked in to the space surrounding the device can be partially collected wirelessly. Herein, simultaneous collection of power transmitted through wires and wirelessly by a rotating TENG, is demonstrated. The wired component gives an output of ≈2 mA and ≈110 V, and the wireless component using the finite size of the collector gives an output current and voltage of ≈3 µA and ≈17.5 V (power density of 21.8 mW m−2). Small mobile electronics and a digital camera can be charged. The study extends the application of TENGs for practical applications. An integrated rotating triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is designed by conjunction of wired and wireless transmissions to collect rotational energy. The integrated rotating TENG with the wireless energy delivery is demonstrated for the electric power supply of smart homes. The hybrid TENG develops the application of Maxwell's displacement current in self‐powered system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Composite sponge with high flexibility and charge trapping capability was developed for fabricating high performance triboelectric nanogenerator. • Dielectric enhancement mechanism was comparatively proved and demonstrated in the CCTO@BT/PDMS composite. • Permittivity and work function were studied in-depth to unravel the origin of the significantly enhanced triboelectric performance. • Highly stable and sensitive motion monitoring sensor was designed for the development of TENG-based self-powered sensing systems. Functional materials that are with high dielectric constant are finding extensive applications in the conversion and storage of energy, which may also be the key for enhancing the output performance of triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) by dielectrically modulating the charge trapping capability of the triboelectric interface. Here, CaCu 3 Ti 4 O 12 @BaTiO 3 (CCTO@BT) is facilely synthesized for forming in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer. Due to the strengthened charge induction, the composite sponge with high flexibility and charge trapping capability is developed, and the polymeric sponge TENG (with 2 wt% CCTO@BaTiO 3) demonstrates a high open-circuit voltage of 291.14 V, a short-circuit current of 35.49 µA, and a transfer charge quantity of 80 nC, which are far superior 206% higher than that are modulated by pure CCTO and 480% higher than pure PDMS (the short-circuit current). Dielectric enhancement mechanism was comparatively proved and demonstrated in the CCTO@BT/PDMS composites. To unravel the origin of the significantly enhanced triboelectric performance, permittivity and work function in the sponge were studied in-depth, and the strong internal polarization and potential barrier height were demonstrated. Moreover, the as-fabricated TENG can act as self-powered sensor for monitoring human motions, such as walking, jogging, and jumping ropes. This work provides a new insight into the unique potential of dielectric-modulated output enhancement strategy for unblocking the potential of TENG in energy harvesting and biophysical monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]