Snake-scale stimulated robust biomimetic composite triboelectric layer for energy harvesting and smart health monitoring
Journal
Nano Energy
Journal Volume
122
Date Issued
2024-04-01
Author(s)
Huang, Ming Zheng
Parashar, Parag
Chen, An Rong
Shi, Shih Chen
Tseng, Yao Hsuan
Lim, Kee Chin
Yeh, Hsuan Yu
Pal, Arnab
Abstract
Extreme frictional wear of triboelectric layers severely hinders long-term sustainability of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) for efficient ambient energy harvesting. The state-of-the-art solutions necessitate sophisticated structural designs and complex packaging constraints, impeding the feasibility of TENGs for practical applications. Herein, inspired by the structures and compositions of snake scales, a biomimetic composite (BC) film is fabricated as a wear-resistant triboelectric contact layer. The successful formation of disulfide bond-facilitated cross-linkage of cysteine proteins in the keratin-based BC film promotes excellent mechanical resilience and durability, thereby solving the material abrasion challenges associated with solid-solid triboelectric layers. The BC film, with toothed microstructure, exhibits improved charge transfer, low friction, and consistent long-term stable outputs compared to commercial films. Furthermore, a self-powered BC film-based TENG is integrated into a bicycle for biomechanical energy harvesting, lightening warning signals for safer night ride with stable 300 V electrical output for at least 6 h. Moreover, a smart health monitoring system is further proposed by embedding TENG-based sensors into the bicycle saddle, accurately capturing the rider's pelvic-saddle interactions on varying terrain slopes. By leveraging the unique biomechanical information, machine learning-assisted user identification and terrain slope data classifications are achieved with high accuracies, laying a foundation for futuristic smart healthcare applications. This work provides a strategy to reduce material abrasion by exploiting the unique characteristics of a biomimetic material, facilitating a basis for efficient environmental energy harvesting and smart sensing.
Subjects
Biomechanical energy harvesting | Biomimetic | Smart healthcare | Snake-scales | Triboelectric nanogenerator | Wear resistance
SDGs
Type
journal article