Underwater communication is a critical and challenging issue, on account of the complex underwater environment. This study introduces an underwater wireless communication approach via Maxwell’s displacement current generated by a triboelectric nanogenerator. Underwater electric field can be generated through a wire connected to a triboelectric nanogenerator, while current signal can be inducted in an underwater receiver certain distance away. The received current signals are basically immune to disturbances from salinity, turbidity and submerged obstacles. Even after passing through a 100 m long spiral water pipe, the electric signals are not distorted in waveform. By modulating and demodulating the current signals generated by a sound driven triboelectric nanogenerator, texts and images can be transmitted in a water tank at 16 bits/s. An underwater lighting system is operated by the triboelectric nanogenerator-based voice-activated controller wirelessly. This triboelectric nanogenerator-based approach can form the basis for an alternative wireless communication in complex underwater environments.
Vibration sensors are involved extensively in a variety of applications. Especially in the era of the Internet of Things, developing self‐powered vibration sensors has become a very meaningful yet challenging problem. This study investigates a highly sensitive self‐powered vibration sensor based on the triboelectric nanogenerator (VS‐TENG) for machinery condition monitoring. By introducing a stacked structure comprising foamed aluminum, and a fluorinated ethylene propylene film with gold‐plated electrode protected by two indium tin oxid layers, The VS‐TENG can detect the vibrations with frequencies ranging from 1 to 2000 Hz and can detect vibrations of low amplitude (approximately sub‐µm, by calculation). The output performance and characteristics of the TENG under various vibration frequencies, accelerations, and amplitudes are analyzed systematically. The VS‐TENG is successfully used to monitor the operating conditions of mechanical gear systems, reaching a recognition accuracy of 99.78%. Furthermore, it can also be utilized for vibration detection in other areas such as the air compressor, heat gun, hollow tile recognition, etc., which means a solid progress toward the practical applications of TENGs in self‐powered vibration detection.
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