The functionalized conductive polymer is a promising choice for flexible triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) for harvesting human motion energy still poses challenges. In this work, a transparent and stretchable wrinkled poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) electrode based TENG (WP-TENG) is fabricated. The optimum conductivity and transparency of PEDOT:PSS electrode can reach 0.14 kΩ □ −1 and 90%, respectively, with maximum strain of ≈100%. Operating in single-electrode mode at 2.5 Hz, the WP-TENG with an area of 6 × 3 cm 2 produces an open-circuit voltage of 180 V, short-circuit current of 22.6 µA, and average power density of 4.06 mW m −2 . It can be worn on the wrist to harvest hand tapping energy and charge the capacitor to 2 V in ≈3.5 min, and then drive an electronic watch. Furthermore, the WP-TENG as the human motion monitoring sensor could inspect the bending angle of the elbow and joint by analyzing the peak value of voltage and monitor the motion frequency by counting the peak number. The triboelectric mechanism also enables the WP-TENG to realize high-performance active tactile sensing. The assembled 3 pixel × 3 pixel tactile sensor array is fabricated for mapping the touch location or recording the shape of object contacted with the sensor array.

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As a promising energy converter, the requirement for miniaturization and high-accuracy of triboelectric nanogenerators always remains urgent. In this work, a micro triboelectric ultrasonic device was developed by integrating a triboelectric nanogenerator and microelectro-mechanical systems technology. To date, it sets a world record for the smallest triboelectric device, with a 50 µm-sized diaphragm, and enables the working frequency to be brought to megahertz. This dramatically improves the miniaturization and chip integration of the triboelectric nanogenerator. With 63 kPa@1 MHz ultrasound input, the micro triboelectric ultrasonic device can generate the voltage signal of 16.8 mV and 12.7 mV through oil and sound-attenuation medium, respectively. It also achieved the signal-to-ratio of 20.54 dB and exhibited the practical potential for signal communication by modulating the incident ultrasound. Finally, detailed optimization approaches have also been proposed to further improve the output power of the micro triboelectric ultrasonic device.

An anti-freezing hydrogel based stretchable triboelectric nanogenerator have been synthesized for harvesting a large amplitude of human movement energy as an effective wearable power source at sub-zero temperature.

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HIGHLIGHTS• Owing to the great robustness, continuous conductivity, and geometric construction of a steel wire electrode, the FST-TENGs demonstrate high stability, stretchability, and even tailorability.• By knitting several FST-TENGs to be a fabric or a bracelet worn on the human body, it enables to harvest human motion energy.• The FST-TENGs can also be woven on dorsum of glove to monitor the movements of gesture.ABSTRACT Continuous deforming always leads to the performance degradation of a flexible triboelectric nanogenerator due to the Young's modulus mismatch of different functional layers. In this work, we fabricated a fiber-shaped stretchable and tailorable triboelectric nanogenerator (FST-TENG) based on the geometric construction of a steel wire as electrode and ingenious selection of silicone rubber as triboelectric layer.Owing to the great robustness and continuous conductivity, the FST-TENGs demonstrate high stability, stretchability, and even tailorability. For a single device with ~ 6 cm in length and ~ 3 mm in diameter, the open-circuit voltage of ~ 59.7 V, transferred charge of ~ 23.7 nC, short-circuit current of ~ 2.67 μA and average power of ~ 2.13 μW can be obtained at 2.5 Hz. By knitting several FST-TENGs to be a fabric or a bracelet, it enables to harvest human motion energy and then to drive a wearable electronic device. Finally, it can also be woven on dorsum of glove to monitor the movements of gesture, which can recognize every single finger, different bending angle, and numbers of bent finger by analyzing voltage signals.