Search Results (459)

Regenerated cellulose is a promising tribopositive material for sustainable triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), although its electrical output remains sensitive to surface and interfacial properties. In this study, regenerated cellulose was modified using atomic layer deposition (ALD) of Al₂O₃, TiO₂, and ZnO to investigate how nanoscale oxide coatings influence triboelectric performance against a tribonegative PTFE counter layer. Two deposition regimes were examined: 7 ALD cycles, representing the early stage of ALD growth, and 200 cycles, representing a more developed coating regime. Triboelectric measurements, dielectric spectroscopy, structural characterization and contact angle analysis, were used to evaluate how ALD modification influences the electrical response of regenerated cellulose. All ALD-modified samples exhibited increased surface charge density and power output compared to unmodified cellulose, while also showing improved retention of triboelectric performance at elevated relative humidity. The 7-cycle samples consistently outperformed the corresponding 200-cycle coatings under low-humidity conditions, whereas the 200-cycle ZnO sample exhibited the highest humidity stability. No direct correlation between wettability and triboelectric output was observed. The results suggest that relatively small interfacial modifications introduced by ALD are sufficient to influence both the triboelectric response and humidity-dependent charge dissipation behavior of regenerated cellulose. Full article

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) show significant potential in pressure sensing by converting mechanical disturbances into electrical signals positively correlated with the magnitude of the applied force, yet their development as practical pressure sensors is severely hindered by the major drawback of only detecting transient mechanical inputs. Additionally, traditional dual-mode pressure sensors have typically required complex multilayer structures and time-consuming fabrication processes. Here, a simple dual-mode pressure sensor of novel structure integrated with TENG and anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) for both dynamic and static pressure detection is proposed. Nanoporous AAO is directly grown on an aluminum substrate to simplify the traditionally complex multi-layer structure of dual-mode pressure sensors. The AAO layer serves a dual functionality by acting as an active triboelectric layer that significantly enhances the triboelectric output performance while concurrently functioning as the capacitive dielectric layer. A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film is employed as the elastic counterpart to pair with the AAO substrate. The influence of PDMS thickness on the charge accumulation and extraction of the TENG mode is investigated to optimize the device output. Under optimal configurations, the streamlined Al-AAO/PDMS sensor demonstrates good sensitivity and linearity (R² > 0.99) for both dynamic triboelectric voltage (1.05 V/kPa) and static capacitance (5.56 pF/kPa) over a wide sensing range of 1–73 kPa. This dual-mode sensor effectively overcomes the transient limitation of conventional single-mode TENGs and shows significant potential for future smart tactile applications. Full article

Disk triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) design pursues high structural figure of merit (${\mathrm{FOM}}_S$), yet nominal peak designs often sit in regions with steep geometric gradients; under a controlled $\pm 10\%$ symmetric perturbation proxy, worst-case ${\mathrm{FOM}}_S$ retention near the peak frontier falls to 2.7%. We decompose ${\mathrm{FOM}}_S$ into a charge-transfer channel ($Q_{\mathrm{sc},\mathrm{MACRS}}$) and a capacitance channel ($C_{\mathrm{sum}}^{-1}$), and train a multi-output surrogate with a physics consistency constraint on 1944 COMSOL simulations to jointly predict $Q_{\mathrm{sc},\mathrm{MACRS}}$, $C_{\mathrm{sum}}^{-1}$, and ${\mathrm{FOM}}_S$ across electrode-pair number, dielectric-thickness-to-radius ratio ($h/R$), air-gap-to-radius ratio ($d/R$), and dielectric constant. Evaluating 7776 design points reveals that 58.6% of the explored space is charge-dominant, 36.1% mixed, and 5.3% capacitance-dominant; raising dielectric constant shifts the mechanism toward capacitance-limited behavior, while a larger air gap reinforces charge-limited behavior. Mixed-regime windows tolerate the same perturbation proxy far better than peak-${\mathrm{FOM}}_S$ candidates, supplying candidate design windows for pre-fabrication screening within the validated simulation domain. The surrogate reaches pooled out-of-distribution ${\mathrm{FOM}}_S$$R_{{\log }_{10}}^2=0.914$ on 43 unseen structural and dielectric combinations. Delivered through an open-source Streamlit interface, the channel decomposition, mechanism mapping, and tolerance screening let designers identify the limiting mechanism and select candidate designs that are expected to tolerate geometric variation within the validated simulation domain, prior to fabrication. Full article

The triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), which converts mechanical energy into electrical energy through the coupled effect of triboelectrification and electrostatic induction, has garnered significant interest among researchers due to its portability and self-powered characteristics. Despite its evident development potential, TENG continues to face challenges, including the necessity to enhance its triboelectric performance through the optimization of structures, materials, and manufacturing techniques to improve energy conversion efficiency. Additionally, its environmental stability and durability also need to be improved. TENGs designed inspired by non-human animals and plants offer feasible solutions to address these limitations. These bio-inspired TENGs optimize the structural design of TENGs and the materials of the triboelectric layers by imitating the structures, functions, and behaviors of organisms, thereby further improving the energy conversion efficiency, sensitivity, wear resistance, adaptability to special environments, biocompatibility, and wearing comfort of TENGs. This paper expounds on the progress of TENGs inspired by non-human animals and plants applied in environmental energy harvesting, human health and motion monitoring. It also discusses the current challenges, with a view to providing insights for the interdisciplinary integration and development of bionics and TENGs. Full article

Real-time monitoring of marine ecosystems is crucial for global climate change research. In extreme marine environments such as the westerly regions in the Arctic and Antarctic, monitoring buoys and platforms often suffer from severe challenges, including insufficient energy supply, limited battery life, and difficult maintenance. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) offer a promising strategy for self-powered marine sensing. However, conventional tubular liquid–solid triboelectric nanogenerators (LS-TENGs) suffer from low efficiency of interfacial charge transfer due to limited contact area and excessive internal resistance, which restricts their output. In this study, a multi-tube nested liquid–solid triboelectric nanogenerator (MLS-TENG) is proposed, and the suitable filling ratio is determined through comparative experiments on structural parameters. This design significantly increases the effective contact area, reduces internal resistance, and improves synergistic charge transfer at multiple interfaces. Experimental results demonstrate that the MLS-TENG exhibits substantially improved electrical output compared with the corresponding single-tube structures. When integrated with a power management module, the capacitor charging efficiency is improved by approximately 120 times. In real sea trials, an array composed of MLS-TENG units successfully drives a self-powered sensing system, achieving stable 4G transmission of environmental parameters. This work provides a scalable structural optimization strategy for constructing high-performance blue energy-harvesting self-powered nodes for the marine Internet of Things. Full article

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based hydrogels suffer from insufficient mechanical strength, while aramid nanofibers (ANF) have intrinsic insulation that limits their sensing applications, and the synergistic effect of composite fillers remains underexplored. This study aims to develop a multifunctional PVA/ANF/NaCl composite organohydrogel for high-performance flexible sensors. The gel was fabricated via freeze–thaw crosslinking, solvent exchange and NaCl impregnation, with systematic investigations of its microstructure, mechanical, electrical and multifunctional sensing properties, and a corresponding triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and self-powered handwriting recognition system were constructed. Results show that 2% ANF significantly enhances the gel’s mechanical performance, 0.5 M NaCl achieves optimal mechanical-electrical balance, the gel-based sensor exhibits excellent distance, pressure and strain sensing with high cyclic stability, the TENG delivers stable electrical output, and the recognition system achieves 95% accuracy on the test set. This work provides a new material and design strategy for advanced flexible electronic devices. Full article

(1) Background: Gait analysis technologies have advanced; however, traditional systems like optical motion capture are lab-bound and costly, limiting rehabilitation monitoring. This cross-sectional study evaluates self-powered triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) insoles combined with IMU sensors to assess gait asymmetry, plantar pressure signatures, age effects and injury history in rehabilitation patients, aiming to enable portable, battery-free phenotyping. (2) Methods: Fifty-three patients (22 females, 31 males; age, 29 ± 26 years) from Astana clinics with trauma histories (e.g., spine, ankle, fractures) and 10 healthy references underwent a 2 min walk test (2MWT). TENG insoles captured plantar loading; ankle/knee IMUs measured spatiotemporal parameters (cadence, asymmetry). The data were normalized; the analyses used an ANOVA and correlations (Python 3.14.3). (3) Results: The TENG sensors showed force/frequency linearity (up to 10 V at 20 N). The cadence averaged 101 ± 10 steps/min, declining with age (r = −0.31, p = 0.03) and fractures (r = −0.23, p = 0.04). The asymmetry varied (−54% to +31%) without category differences. Flatfoot (55%) was linked to lateral loading shifts; condition-specific waveform signatures emerged (e.g., lateral heel in ankle issues). (4) TENG-IMU systems feasibly capture gait phenotypes in heterogeneous cohorts, supporting out-of-lab monitoring for personalized rehabilitation without batteries. Prospective validation is required for further practical implications. Full article

Against the backdrop of global energy structure decarbonization, distributed transformation, and the rapid development of low-power electronic devices and sensor networks, micro-energy supply and intelligent sensing have emerged as critical bottlenecks limiting their large-scale application. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), leveraging advantages such as compatibility with diverse materials and adaptability to flexible and miniaturized fabrication, can efficiently harvest widely available low-frequency, low-amplitude distributed mechanical energy in the environment. Additionally, they exhibit self-powered sensing characteristics, where output signals are directly correlated with external physical quantities, demonstrating unique strengths in the fields of micro-/nano-energy and intelligent monitoring. This article systematically reviews the research progress in TENGs; elucidates their working modes and power generation principles; summarizes material design, structural optimization, and performance enhancement strategies for efficient energy harvesting; and outlines the current state of self-powered sensing technologies. It highlights their engineering applications in intelligent monitoring scenarios such as drones, marine environments, infrastructure, and wearable devices. Addressing the existing technical bottlenecks and theoretical challenges in integrated energy harvesting–sensing–monitoring systems, the paper envisions future trends toward high performance, integration, and intelligence, providing valuable insights for fundamental research on and engineering applications of TENGs in micro-energy supply and intelligent monitoring. Full article

This study explores the influence of MXene solution as an interfacial liquid on the output performance of a Cu/n-Si-based direct current triboelectric nanogenerator (DC-TENG) system. The ${\mathrm{Ti}}_3{\mathrm{AlC}}_2$ MAX phase was successfully transformed into ${\mathrm{Ti}}_3{\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{x}}$ MXene through selective etching and was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses, which revealed an increase in d-spacing from 8.99 to 9.58 Å and a transition from dense layered grains to delaminated, sheet-like structures. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) demonstrated a pronounced reduction in impedance with the introduction of MXene solution, indicating enhanced interfacial conductivity and charge transfer capability. The presence of MXene in deionized (DI) water led to the formation of an electrical double layer (EDL) at the Cu/n-Si interface, contributing to additional interfacial capacitance and more efficient charge relaxation dynamics. As a result, the DC-TENG output was significantly enhanced with the incorporation of MXene into the system, exhibiting a markedly higher current compared to the dry contact condition. Moreover, the MXene solution helped suppress charge decay compared to dry interfaces, highlighting its role as an effective liquid medium for stabilizing surface charge and improving interfacial electron transport in DC-TENG systems. Full article

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) exhibit great application potential in the fields of intelligent sensing and Internet of Things terminal devices due to their advantages of self-powering, simple structure, and high sensitivity. A self-powered alarm sensor for smart manhole covers is proposed to realize real-time monitoring of water immersion and abnormal displacement without external power supply. Experimental results show that the sensor can generate distinguishable voltage signals under water immersion and different displacement states, enabling rapid recognition of potential hazards such as manhole cover offset and accumulated water. On this basis, a reliable intelligent alarm system is constructed, which can receive, analyze, and warn of abnormal signals in real time. Therefore, it can even directly replace commercial manhole covers, demonstrating the broad application prospects of TENG in the field of intelligent monitoring. With the continuous advancement of TENG technology, the functions of this manhole cover alarm will be further expanded and optimized in the future, providing stronger support for the construction of smart cities. Full article

As a green energy technology, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) convert mechanical energy into electricity and have gained significant attention in response to growing global environmental concerns. However, the widespread use of petroleum-based polymers as triboelectric materials in high-performance TENGs raises concerns over plastic pollution. In this work, we report a high-performance biodegradable TENG utilizing chitosan/laser-induced graphene (LIG) composite films as triboelectric layers. Modified chitosan substrates were first converted into LIGs via a convenient one-step CO₂ laser engraving, subsequently incorporated into chitosan matrices to form homogeneous composite films. A TENG device was designed by pairing the LIG/chitosan composite film with the fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) film, and copper electrodes. The introduction of LIG effectively strengthens charge storage and dielectric properties of the chitosan matrix, thereby significantly boosting the triboelectric output performance. Experimental results demonstrate that the as-assembled TENG with an LIG concentration of 1 wt.% achieves a peak open-circuit voltage of 196 V and short-circuit current of 2.1 μA, with a maximum power density of 295 mW/m². It can drive LED lights and small low-power electronic devices. Furthermore, the designed TENG device exhibits good biodegradability, flexibility, and stability, serving as a self-powered sensor for monitoring human joint movements. This work provides a simple and scalable strategy for integrating laser-induced graphene with biomass-based polymers, offering new insights into the design of high-performance, biobased triboelectric materials. Full article

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) offer a promising route for self-powered microscale energy harvesting, yet their design optimisation remains empirically challenging due to the complex interplay of material surface physics, device geometry and operating mode. In this work, we present an integrated framework that combines atomic force microscopy (AFM) characterisation, COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0 finite element simulation and physics-informed conditional variational autoencoder (cVAE) to predict and optimise TENG output performance. Four polymer dielectric materials, HDPE, LDPE, TPU, and PMMA, were characterised via Kelvin Probe Force microscopy (KPFM) for work function, surface potential and surface roughness. Surface charge density was calculated from measured KPFM potential using the parallel plate capacitor model and used as a boundary condition in COMSOL Multiphysics simulations for contact-separation and lateral sliding TENG mode for dielectric film thicknesses of 50 µm and 100 µm. The simulated open circuit voltage (Voc) and short circuit charge (Qsc) across gap distances up to 150 mm formed the training dataset for a cVAE model with eight physicochemical condition features. The trained model demonstrated strong reconstruction accuracy (R² ≥ 0.94) and enables generative prediction across unseen design spaces. Results reveal that the LDPE/TPU pair at 50 µm thickness consistently achieves the highest electric outputs in both modes, and the sliding mode yields 25–30% higher voltages than the contact separation mode across all material pairs. This study provides a transferable data-efficient methodology for accelerating TENG material and geometry optimisation. Full article

The development of self-powered environmental sensors is of great practical significance for addressing the power supply dilemma of traditional sensors in remote areas and avoiding environmental pollution from waste batteries. Given that the majority of the self-powered environmental sensors are based on the TENG principle, especially the active self-powered sensors, this paper reviews recent advances in triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG)-based self-powered environmental sensors. What distinguishes this review from the previous ones published on TENG is that it systematically discusses the application of TENG-based self-powered sensors for environmental monitoring. TENG-based self-powered sensors are classified into two types: TENG as a power supply for professional biochemical sensors and active self-powered sensors where TENG acts as both power source and sensing unit. This paper illustrates the applications of these devices in detecting targets in the environment, such as heavy metal ions, toxic gases, bacterial DNA, and bacteria, and summarizes the relevant performance parameters. It also analyzes key challenges including efficient mechanical energy harvesting, material durability and sensing specificity. Finally, the outlook notes that TENG-based sensors will expand detection ranges and integrate with other technologies, providing valuable guidance for their environmental monitoring applications. Full article

The demand for flexible and wearable electronics has intensified the need for conformable, high-performance, and self-sustaining power sources. Flexible supercapacitors (FSCs) and flexible batteries (e.g., lithium-ion and lithium–sulfur) are promising owing to their high-power density, long cycle life, and mechanical flexibility. A transformative solution lies in integrating these storage devices with mechanical energy harvesters, particularly triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), to create autonomous self-charging power systems (SCPSs). TENGs exhibit high output, versatile operational modes, material flexibility, and efficient energy harvesting from body movements. This review provides an overview of the recent advances in flexible energy storage technologies, encompassing carbon-based materials, MXenes, polymers, metal oxides, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), and their hybrid architectures. It discusses the synergistic integration of these storage devices with TENGs to realize multifunctional SCPSs. It also highlights the fundamental design principles of flexible devices, the critical interplay of materials and architecture, and the journey towards monolithic system integration. The review also underscores the importance of managing harvesters’ pulsed output for efficient storage. Finally, a critical analysis of the challenges, including the energy density–flexibility compromise, environmental stability, and safety, is presented, alongside a forward-looking perspective on commercialization pathways for these technologies to power the next generation of autonomous wearable and sustainable electronic systems. Full article

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have emerged as versatile self-powered platforms for wearable and implantable biomedical sensing, offering an alternative to battery-dependent electronic devices. By converting biomechanical energy from physiological motion into electrical signals, TENGs enable simultaneous energy harvesting and active sensing within flexible, lightweight, and biocompatible architectures. This review summarizes recent advances from 2020 to 2025 in triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG)-based cardiovascular monitoring. The discussion focuses on material systems, device configurations, sensing mechanisms, and applications including pulse detection and cuffless blood pressure estimation. Representative studies are compared to highlight emerging trends in wearable and self-powered sensing technologies. However, differences in experimental conditions, anatomical sites, calibration methods, and signal-processing approaches limit direct comparison of reported performance. In addition, challenges such as subject-specific calibration, motion artifacts, and limited clinical validation remain. Overall, this review highlights current progress and outlines key challenges for future development and translation of TENG-based cardiovascular monitoring systems. Full article