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HighlightsMultidiscipline application of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) for intelligent Internet of Things (IoTs) are summarized from the aspects of agriculture, industry, city, emergency monitoring, and artificial intelligence.Perspectives on the challenges and future research directions of TENGs in IoTs have been proposed.In the era of 5G and the Internet of things (IoTs), various human–computer interaction systems based on the integration of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) and IoTs technologies demonstrate the feasibility of sustainable and self-powered functional systems. The rapid development of intelligent applications of IoTs based on TENGs mainly relies on supplying the harvested mechanical energy from surroundings and implementing active sensing, which have greatly changed the way of human production and daily life. This review mainly introduced the TENG applications in multidiscipline scenarios of IoTs, including smart agriculture, smart industry, smart city, emergency monitoring, and machine learning-assisted artificial intelligence applications. The challenges and future research directions of TENG toward IoTs have also been proposed. The extensive developments and applications of TENG will push forward the IoTs into an energy autonomy fashion.

HighlightsA flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) based on 2D single-layer MoSe2 flake on polyethylene terephthalate was fabricated.A high-performance flexible poly(vinyl alcohol)/MXene (PVA/MXene)-based humidity sensor was fabricated by electrospinning.The PVA/MXene composite-based humidity sensor was self-powered by MoSe2 PENG and exhibited excellent properties.Two-dimensional material has been widely investigated for potential applications in sensor and flexible electronics. In this work, a self-powered flexible humidity sensing device based on poly(vinyl alcohol)/Ti3C2Tx (PVA/MXene) nanofibers film and monolayer molybdenum diselenide (MoSe2) piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) was reported for the first time. The monolayer MoSe2-based PENG was fabricated by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition techniques, which can generate a peak output of 35 mV and a power density of 42 mW m−2. The flexible PENG integrated on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate can harvest energy generated by different parts of human body and exhibit great application prospects in wearable devices. The electrospinned PVA/MXene nanofiber-based humidity sensor with flexible PET substrate under the driven of monolayer MoSe2 PENG, shows high response of ∼40, fast response/recovery time of 0.9/6.3 s, low hysteresis of 1.8% and excellent repeatability. The self-powered flexible humidity sensor yields the capability of detecting human skin moisture and ambient humidity. This work provides a pathway to explore the high-performance humidity sensor integrated with PENG for the self-powered flexible electronic devices.

HighlightsThe distinctive characteristics, underlying mechanisms, diverse range of selected materials, and modification methods of contact electrification (CE) at various interfaces are summarized and comparatively analyzed, offering valuable guidance for future investigations of triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) at different interfaces.This review gives a detailed insight into the unique applications of TENG relying on different interfacial electrification.The challenges and development prospects of TENGs based on CE are discussed.The triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) can effectively collect energy based on contact electrification (CE) at diverse interfaces, including solid–solid, liquid–solid, liquid–liquid, gas–solid, and gas–liquid. This enables energy harvesting from sources such as water, wind, and sound. In this review, we provide an overview of the coexistence of electron and ion transfer in the CE process. We elucidate the diverse dominant mechanisms observed at different interfaces and emphasize the interconnectedness and complementary nature of interface studies. The review also offers a comprehensive summary of the factors influencing charge transfer and the advancements in interfacial modification techniques. Additionally, we highlight the wide range of applications stemming from the distinctive characteristics of charge transfer at various interfaces. Finally, this review elucidates the future opportunities and challenges that interface CE may encounter. We anticipate that this review can offer valuable insights for future research on interface CE and facilitate the continued development and industrialization of TENG.

HighlightsA fully fabric-based mechanical energy harvester with a sandwich structure is developed, which can respond to the pressure change by the fall of leaves.A self-powered keyboard with the ability of biometric recognition is demonstrated, which is able to resist illegal intrusion by judging the keystroke behaviors.Combination flexible and stretchable textiles with self-powered sensors bring a novel insight into wearable functional electronics and cyber security in the era of Internet of Things. This work presents a highly flexible and self-powered fully fabric-based triboelectric nanogenerator (F-TENG) with sandwiched structure for biomechanical energy harvesting and real-time biometric authentication. The prepared F-TENG can power a digital watch by low-frequency motion and respond to the pressure change by the fall of leaves. A self-powered wearable keyboard (SPWK) is also fabricated by integrating large-area F-TENG sensor arrays, which not only can trace and record electrophysiological signals, but also can identify individuals' typing characteristics by means of the Haar wavelet. Based on these merits, the SPWK has promising applications in the realm of wearable electronics, self-powered sensors, cyber security, and artificial intelligences.

Arterial pulse waves are regarded as vital diagnostic tools in the assessment of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Because of their high sensitivity, rapid response time, wearability, and low cost, textile triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are emerging as a compelling biotechnology for wearable pulse wave monitoring. We discuss sensing mechanisms for pulse-to-electricity conversion, analytical models for calculating cardiovascular parameters, and application scenarios for textile TENGs. We provide a prospective on the challenges that limit the wider application of this technology and suggest some future research directions. In the future, textile TENGs are expected to make an impact in the fields of wearable pulse wave monitoring and CVD diagnosis. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the main cause of death globally, and arterial pulse waves are vital diagnostic tools for assessing CVD.Textile triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) provide a highly sensitive, self-powered, and low-cost biotechnology for pulse-to-electricity conversion while maintaining the advantageous features of textiles such as superior wearing comfort and stability.Clinical parameters, such as heart rate, pulse wave velocity, and blood pressure, can be calculated from pulse waveforms acquired by textile TENGs for CVD diagnosis in a continuous, timely, and accurate manner.Textile TENGs can be further connected with terminals to enable real-time personalized healthcare monitoring and clinical information exchange with telemedicine in a non-clinical environment.

Natural sources of green energy include sunshine, water, biomass, geothermal heat, and wind. These energies are alternate forms of electrical energy that do not rely on fossil fuels. Green energy is environmentally benign, as it avoids the generation of greenhouse gases and pollutants. Various systems and equipment have been utilized to gather natural energy. However, most technologies need a huge amount of infrastructure and expensive equipment in order to power electronic gadgets, smart sensors, and wearable devices. Nanogenerators have recently emerged as an alternative technique for collecting energy from both natural and artificial sources, with significant benefits such as light weight, low-cost production, simple operation, easy signal processing, and low-cost materials. These nanogenerators might power electronic components and wearable devices used in a variety of applications such as telecommunications, the medical sector, the military and automotive industries, and internet of things (IoT) devices. We describe new research on the performance of nanogenerators employing several green energy acquisition processes such as piezoelectric, electromagnetic, thermoelectric, and triboelectric. Furthermore, the materials, applications, challenges, and future prospects of several nanogenerators are discussed.

HighlightsTypical structures/working mechanisms of gel-based triboelectric nanogenerators and performance advantages of gel materials reviewed.Optimization of hydrogels, organogels, and aerogels for triboelectric nanogenerators in flexible sensing summarized.Applications, challenges, and future development directions of gel-based triboelectric nanogenerators in flexible sensing are discussed.The rapid development of the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence technologies has increased the need for wearable, portable, and self-powered flexible sensing devices. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) based on gel materials (with excellent conductivity, mechanical tunability, environmental adaptability, and biocompatibility) are considered an advanced approach for developing a new generation of flexible sensors. This review comprehensively summarizes the recent advances in gel-based TENGs for flexible sensors, covering their principles, properties, and applications. Based on the development requirements for flexible sensors, the working mechanism of gel-based TENGs and the characteristic advantages of gels are introduced. Design strategies for the performance optimization of hydrogel-, organogel-, and aerogel-based TENGs are systematically summarized. In addition, the applications of gel-based TENGs in human motion sensing, tactile sensing, health monitoring, environmental monitoring, human–machine interaction, and other related fields are summarized. Finally, the challenges of gel-based TENGs for flexible sensing are discussed, and feasible strategies are proposed to guide future research.

Long-term observation of the triboelectric effect has not only proved the feasibility of many novel and useful tribo-devices (e.g., triboelectric nanogenerators), but also constantly motivated the exploration of its mysterious nature. In the pursuit of a comprehensive understanding of how the triboelectric process works, a more accurate description of the triboelectric effect and its related parameters and factors is urgently required. This review critically goes through the fundamental theories and basic principles governing the triboelectric process. By investigating the difference between each charging media, the electron, ion, and material transfer is discussed and the theoretical deduction in the past decades is provided. With the information from the triboelectric series, interesting phenomena including cyclic triboelectric sequence and asymmetric triboelectrification are precisely analyzed. Then, the interaction between the tribo-system and its operational environment is analyzed, and a fundamental description of its effects on the triboelectric process and results is summarized. In brief, this review is expected to provide a strong understanding of the triboelectric effect in a more rigorous mathematical and physical sense.

HighlightsThe basic theory, key merits and potential development of direct current triboelectric nanogenerator (DC-TENG) from the aspect of mechanical rectifier, tribovoltaic effect, phase control, mechanical delay switch and air-discharge are discussed in detail.This review provides a guideline for future challenges of DC-TENGs, and a strategy for improving the output performance for commercial applications.As hundreds of millions of distributed devices appear in every corner of our lives for information collection and transmission in big data era, the biggest challenge is the energy supply for these devices and the signal transmission of sensors. Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) as a new energy technology meets the increasing demand of today's distributed energy supply due to its ability to convert the ambient mechanical energy into electric energy. Meanwhile, TENG can also be used as a sensing system. Direct current triboelectric nanogenerator (DC-TENG) can directly supply power to electronic devices without additional rectification. It has been one of the most important developments of TENG in recent years. Herein, we review recent progress in the novel structure designs, working mechanism and corresponding method to improve the output performance for DC-TENGs from the aspect of mechanical rectifier, tribovoltaic effect, phase control, mechanical delay switch and air-discharge. The basic theory of each mode, key merits and potential development are discussed in detail. At last, we provide a guideline for future challenges of DC-TENGs, and a strategy for improving the output performance for commercial applications.