Triboelectric nanogenerators and sensors based on biomaterials

Abstract

Triboelectric generators (TENGs) that can produce electricity from renewable energy sources has been diversely researched since it was first developed in 2012. In particular, TENG can be applied to power sources of portable electronics and self- powered sensors which can detect various physical value owing to the lightweight and flexibility. However, a stable output energy should be generated by TENGs to operate electronics as the power source. Furthermore, the flexibility of a sensor attached on the body should be required to measure human motion. Herein, we developed TENG and sensor based on the biomaterial for electronics and wearable devices. First, a chitosan-diatom composite film was utilized for a triboelectric material of TENG not only to harvest the human motion energy but also to measure the joint motion. Secondly, a chitosan-catechol-diatom hydrogel was fabricated to utilize an electrode of stretchable TENG. Finally, YbNTiO2@C was synthesized to enhance the positivity of triboelectric materials. The TENG developed in this study can be used not only as a power source for next generation electronics but also as self-powered sensors, which will greatly contribute to the implementation of smart wearable devices and wireless sensor network system.