Micro triboelectric ultrasonic device for acoustic energy transfer and signal communication

Abstract

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.

Progress in the Triboelectric Human–Machine Interfaces (HMIs)-Moving from Smart Gloves to AI/Haptic Enabled HMI in the 5G/IoT Era

“…Another biosignal that can be effectively utilized for the human-machine interaction purpose is the human voice, which has attracted great attention recently due to the rapid development of voice recognition based on artificial intelligence technology [162][163][164]. TENG-based acoustic devices have also been investigated a lot towards self-powered microphones [39,73,74,[165][166][167][168]. Although these flexible acoustic devices show good performance and functionality, they are still rigid, which hinders their applications in the wearable device platform that can be comfortably integrated with the human skin.…”

Ultrasound‐Powered Implants: A Critical Review of Piezoelectric Material Selection and Applications

“…[ 75 ] To extend their applicability, triboelectric devices have recently begun to be investigated for ultrasound‐actuated APT. [ 76 ]…”

Flexible High‐Resolution Triboelectric Sensor Array Based on Patterned Laser‐Induced Graphene for Self‐Powered Real‐Time Tactile Sensing

“…Fortunately, a newly arising triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) developed by Wang and co‐workers provides a promising solution to address the issue mentioned above. [ 3–7,19–24 ] Based on the sensing mechanism of coupling contact electrification and electrostatic induction, [ 25–30 ] TENG, with intrinsic merits of cost efficiency, high output voltage, easy manufacturability, and zero power consumption, can harvest ambient mechanical energy and convert it into electricity, which can be employed to act directly as self‐powered active sensor. [ 3–5,19,22,24,30–32 ] For instance, Wang et al.…”