High-performance hybrid nanogenerator for self-powered wireless multi-sensing microsystems

Wireless sensor network nodes are widely used in wearable devices, consumer electronics, and industrial electronics and are a crucial component of the Internet of Things (IoT). Recently, advanced power technology with sustainable energy supply and pollution-free characteristics has become a popular research focus. Herein, to realize an unattended and reliable power supply unit suitable for distributed IoT systems, we develop a high-performance triboelectric-electromagnetic hybrid nanogenerator (TEHNG) to harvest mechanical energy. The TEHNG achieves a high load power of 21.8 mW by implementing improvements of material optimization, configuration optimization and pyramid microstructure design. To realize a self-powered integrated microsystem, a power management module, energy storage module, sensing signal processing module, and microcontroller unit are integrated into the TEHNG. Furthermore, an all-in-one wireless multisensing microsystem comprising the TEHNG, the abovementioned integrated functional circuit and three sensors (temperature, pressure, and ultraviolet) is built. The milliwatt microsystem operates continuously with the TEHNG as the only power supply, achieving self-powered operations of sensing environmental variables and transmitting wireless data to a terminal in real time. This shows tremendous application potential in the IoT field.

Dan-Liang Wen, Peng Huang, Hai-Tao Deng, Xin-Ran Zhang, Yi-Lin Wang, Xiao-Sheng Zhang