High-performance triboelectric nanogenerator based on ZrB_(2)/polydimethylsiloxane for metal corrosion protection

Metal corrosion causes billions of dollars of economic losses yearly.As a smart and new energy-harvesting device,triboelectric nanogenerators(TENGs)can convert almost all mechanical energy into electricity,which leads to great prospects in metal corrosion prevention and cathodic protection.In this work,flexible TENGs were designed to use the energy harvested by flexible polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)films with ZrB_(2)nanoparticles and effectively improve the dielectric constant by incorporating ZrB_(2).The open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current were 264 V and 22.9μA,respectively,and the power density of the TENGs reached 6 W·m^(-2).Furthermore,a selfpowered anti-corrosion system was designed by the rectifier circuit integrated with TENGs,and the open-circuit potential(OCP)and Tafel curves showed that the system had an excellent anti-corrosion effect on carbon steel.Thus,the system has broad application prospects in fields such as metal cultural relics,ocean engineering,and industry.

Recent progress of nanogenerators acting as biomedical sensors in vivo

Since the nanogenerator(NG) was invented in 2006, it has been successfully developed and utilized to harvest various forms of mechanical energy in vivo. The NGs promote the progress of self-powered biomedical devices. Moreover, NGs can also be used as sensors to detect a variety of important physiological signals, which brings us closer to real-time, high-fidelity monitoring of physical and pathological information. This paper summarizes the in vivo applications of NGs as biomedical sensors, including in cardiac sensors, respiration sensors, blood pressure sensors, gastrointestinal sensors and bladder sensors.However, there are still many challenges in using NGs as sensors in vivo. For example, how can we minimize and encapsulate the NGs, how can we increase the stability and reliability during long-term detection, and how can we establish a corresponding relationship between the NG’s electrical output and the physiological signals. It is also critical to follow the medical principles more closely in the development of self-powered sensors in the future. We believe that the self-powered sensors would promote the development of the next-generation healthcare monitoring systems.

A wearable noncontact free-rotating hybrid nanogenerator for self-powered electronics

Self-powerability is a new trend in the development of portable devices.Harvesting biomechanical energy to power personal information electronics is of great significance.In this work,we report a wearable noncontact freerotating hybrid nanogenerator(WRG),which is constituted by a triboelectric nanogenerator and an electromagnetic generator.A continuous output over 2 seconds can be achieved during one instantaneous incentive by external force,which is improved by two orders of magnitude compared to other wearable nanogenerators due to its unique mechanical energy storage design.The WRG can be integrated into shoes to generate an output energy of 14.68 mJ in each stepping,which meets the power requirements of most personal information electronics.The wireless sensor,GPS,and smartphone can be powered by the WRG continuously.The WRG is expected to be applied in self-powered information electronics extensively in the future.