Stretchable and Wearable Triboelectric Nanogenerator Based on Kinesio Tape for Self-Powered Human Motion Sensing

Abstract

Recently, wearable, self-powered, active human motion sensors have attracted a great deal of attention for biomechanics, physiology, kinesiology, and entertainment. Although some progress has been achieved, new types of stretchable and wearable devices are urgently required to promote the practical application. In this article, targeted at self-powered active human motion sensing, a stretchable, flexible, and wearable triboelectric nanogenerator based on kinesio tapes (KT-TENG) haven been designed and investigated systematically. The device can effectively work during stretching or bending. Both the short-circuit transferred charge and open-circuit voltage exhibit an excellent linear relationship with the stretched displacements and bending angles, enabling its application as a wearable self-powered sensor for real-time human motion monitoring, like knee joint bending and human gestures. Moreover, the KT-TENG shows good stability and durability for long-term operation. Compared with the previous works, the KT-TENG without a macro-scale air gap inside, or stretchable triboelectric layers, possesses various advantages, such as simple fabrication, compact structure, superior flexibility and stability, excellent conformable contact with skin, and wide-range selection of triboelectric materials. This work provides a new prospect for a wearable, self-powered, active human motion sensor and has numerous potential applications in the fields of healthcare monitoring, human-machine interfacing, and prosthesis developing.

Nanogenerators as a Sustainable Power Source: State of Art, Applications, and Challenges

“…This proves its application in the self-powered system and sensors [143]. Wearable and stretchable TENGs based on Kinesio tape exhibits a linear relationship with the stretched displacements and bending angles, enabling it to harvest energy from human motions like knee joint bending and human gestures [144]. Apart from these, there are TENGs that harvest electrical energy from eyeball motion [145], eye blinks [146], human body gestures, and posture change [147].…”

Wearable triboelectric sensors for biomedical monitoring and human-machine interface

“…To realize a precise control of the machine, quantification of the motion information is requisite ( Dong et al., 2020a ; Pu et al., 2018 ; Wang et al., 2020 ; Zhu et al., 2020 ). In this part, four kinds of wearable TENG-based gesture/joint motion sensors and interaction systems are reviewed: first, a stretchable kinesio-tape-based TS for gesture monitoring via amplitude quantification ( Wang et al., 2018b ); second, a grating structured sensor quantifying joint rotation via counting the induced positive/negative pulses and the transient control of robot hand ( Pu et al., 2018 ); third, a rotating grating structured angle sensor for robotic arms via counting pulses and detecting phase difference ( Wang et al., 2020 ); and fourth, a nanophotonic readout tech integrated sensor system for intermediate state sensing ( Dong et al., 2020a ).…”

Recent advances of triboelectric nanogenerator based applications in biomedical systems

“…Motion sensors that work by monitoring body/muscle motions from eye-balls, body gestures, and finger poses have been widely used in e-skin and health-care systems. [50][51][52][53][54] Chiu et al proposed a self-powered gesture sensor to be installed on the back of hand to discern finger motions ( Figure 5A). 50 Two hands could form 64 gesture combination, a number that was sufficient to represent 26 English letters.…”