High performance triboelectric nanogenerator based on bamboo fibers with trench structure for self-powered sensing

With the progress of human production technology and the improvement of life quality, a large amount of household waste has been produced, causing serious waste of resources and environmental pollution. Meanwhile, the demand for sustainable energy supply for wearable devices has further increased along with the energy crisis. Therefore, it is useful to recycle usable wastes and apply them to the fabrication of various energy harvesting devices. Here, we reported three low-cost triboelectric nanogenerators based on recyclable disposable facial towels with bamboo fiber, wood fiber, and cotton fiber as the friction layer. After comparative studies, the best output performance was achieved with the grooved bamboo fiber as the friction layer (PB-TENG), with the open-circuit voltage (VOC) and short-circuit current (ISC) of 101.2 V and 2.65 μ A, respectively, and the output power density reached 20.56μ W/cm2 with an external load of 50 MΩ. It is pivotal that these disposable facial towels can be obtained from daily life and have great potential. In addition, PB-TENG was designed as a wearable sensor that can detect the flexion status of individual joints. What's more, PB-TENG can light up 53 LEDs as well as drive a commercial calculator by investigating the performance improvement mechanism. This work combines environmental protection and energy harvesting, contributing to applications in the fields of healthcare, motion detection and security.