A Motion Vector Sensor via Direct‐Current Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Abstract

Motion vector sensors play an important role in artificial intelligence and internet of things. Here, a triboelectric vector sensor (TVS) based on a directcurrent triboelectric nanogenerator is reported, for self-powered measuring various motion parameters, including displacement, velocity, acceleration, angular, and angular velocity. Based on the working mechanism of the contact-electrification effect and electrostatic breakdown, a continuous DC signal can be collected to directly monitor moving objects free from environmental electromagnetic signal interference existing in conventional self-powered TVSs with an alternative-current signal output, which not only enhances the sensitivity of sensors, but also provides a simple solution to miniaturize the sensors. Its sensitivity is demonstrated to be equivalent to state-of-the-art photoelectric technology by a comparative experiment in an intelligent mouse. Notably, an intelligent pen based on the miniaturized TVS is designed to realize motion trajectory tracing, mapping, and writing on the curved surface. This work provides a new paradigm shift to design motion vector sensors and self-powered sensors in artificial intelligent and internet of things.

Simultaneously Enhancing Power Density and Durability of Sliding‐Mode Triboelectric Nanogenerator via Interface Liquid Lubrication

“…Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has demonstrated its potential applications to harvest distributed mechanical energy for powering distributed sensor networks in the era of Internet of things. [1][2][3][4][5] On the basis of mechanical motion types, TENG can be mainly classified into four basic types, including contact-separation TENG, [6,7] single-electrode TENG, [8] sliding TENG, [9,10] and free-standing TENG (FS-TENG), [11] which can be briefly divided into contact-separation-mode TENG (including contact-separation TENG and single-electrode TENG) and slidingmode TENG (including sliding TENG and FS-TENG). Compared with contactseparation-mode TENG, sliding-mode TENG has been identified as a more efficiency technology in harvesting mechanical energy from ambition environment due to its features of easy package, higher charge transfer efficiency, [12,13] which is promising toward practical applications.…”

Triboelectric nanogenerator: from alternating current to direct current

“…Besides, a triboelectric vector sensor (TAS) based on this mode DC-TENG was reported by Yin et al. in a recent paper ( Figure 12 B(i)) ( Yin et al., 2020 ). According to the experimental and theory analysis, they found that the TAS can realize probing multiple physical quantities in a self-powered manner, such as displacement, velocity, acceleration, angle, and angular velocity as shown in Figures 12 B(ii)–12B(v).…”

“…Furthermore, it can be further considered as a prototype of lighting energy harvesting. In addition, it has been demonstrated for mechanical energy harvesting combining with the conventional AC-TENG to enhance the final energy output and self-powered sensor for measuring various motion parameters, showing great potential for application in energy and sensing ( Yin et al., 2020 ; Zhou et al., 2020a ).…”

“…This DC-TENG has been demonstrated to apply in energy harvesting and sensors ( Liu et al., 2019a ; Yin et al., 2020 ). Figure 12 A(i) is the schematic diagram of the sliding mode DC-TENG.…”

Rationally patterned electrode of direct-current triboelectric nanogenerators for ultrahigh effective surface charge density

“…The output characteristic of MDC-TENG shows a good correlation with the vector motion parameters (e.g., distance, velocity and acceleration), which is the basis of motion vector sensor. In addition, the size of MDC-TENG can be further miniaturized, while the high output performance ensures the strength and anti-interference of sensing signals 32 . Thus, the MDC-TENG shows great potential in the applications on MEMS as the motion vector sensor unit.…”