Transparent and flexible hybrid nanogenerator with welded silver nanowire networks as the electrodes for mechanical energy harvesting and physiological signal monitoring

Abstract

Intelligent physiological monitoring devices in wearable sensor technology expected to meet the commercial requirements, including good at optical transparency, stability under mechanical toughness, and easy integration with self-powered systems. Herein, the construction of transparent, flexible, triboelectric-piezoelectric hybrid nanogenerator (TPHNG) reported using triboelectric-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), piezoelectric-polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and welded silver nanowires (AgNWs) network served as the transparent conducting electrodes. The fabricated sandwich structure of TPHNG shows high transparency about 71% along with good flexibility. The fabricated TPHNG (2×3 cm 2 area) capable of delivering remarkable output peak voltage and current about 30 V, and 3 μA respectively with a prompt output power density of 57 mW m −2 for 5 N strike forces. The energy collected from the human physiological movement by TPHNG demonstrated to charge a commercial capacitor to 1.5 V within 100 s and also power an electronic watch. As a human physiology monitor, the TPHNG accomplished to detect the individual signals generated by body movements, including bending angle, bending frequency of the elbow, and even weak signal like human radial pulse. Moreover, the output performance of the fabricated TPHNG device remains stable upon twisting and bending over 1000 cycles reveals excellent stability. Assembly of outstanding transparency, flexibility, electrical output and sensing performance of TPHNG could be a promising candidate applied in energy conversation, individual healthcare monitoring, electronic skin, and a human-machine interface.

Ultrathin Stretchable All-Fiber Electronic Skin for Highly Sensitive Self-Powered Human Motion Monitoring

“…Jeong et al [35] prepared a hyper-stretchable and elastic-composite generator (SEG) with extraordinary output performance, strain capacity, and mechanical stability; this is composed of rubber-based piezoelectric elastic composite (PEC) and very long nanowire percolation (VLNP) electrodes. Yu et al [36] proposed a triboelectric-piezoelectric hybrid nanogenerator (TPHNG) using piezoelectric-polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and a network of welded silver nanowires (AgNWs), achieving mechanical energy harvesting and physiological signal monitoring. Although a series of stretchable energy devices have been developed [37], the multidimensional conductive networks in these devices can easily be damaged in the stretching process.…”

Unveiling Evolutionary Path of Nanogenerator Technology: A Novel Method Based on Sentence-BERT

“…In 2006, Professor Zhong-Lin Wang invented the world's first piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) based on a ZnO nanowire array, which generates an electric field by piezoelectric polarization and drives the movement of electrons, converting mechanical energy into electricity [22]. The initial piezoelectric materials are generally ZnO [23][24][25][26][27], lead zirconate titanate (PZT) [28][29][30][31][32][33][34], BaTiO 3 (BT) [35][36][37][38][39], and polyvinylidene fluoride [40][41][42][43]. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) were first produced in 2011 and were based on the combination of triboelectric electrification and electrostatic induction.…”

Wearable Ball-Impact Piezoelectric Multi-Converters for Low-Frequency Energy Harvesting from Human Motion

“…Specifically, piezoelectric converters have been extensively investigated in energy harvesting systems for the conversion of mechanical energy produced by human movements into electrical energy useful to power wearable electronics devices [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. When operating in linear regime as resonant converters, piezoelectric energy harvesters have the best effectiveness if the input vibration frequencies are close to the resonant frequency of the converter [ 35 , 36 , 37 ].…”