Publications

The sustainable operation of marine Internet of Things (IoT), as a critical enabler for marine resource utilization, is hindered by the lack of robust energy solutions capable of powering advanced functionalities in unpredictable oceanic environments. Here, we present a self-sustainable, highly reliable triboelectric nanogenerator system that synergizes a non-contact architecture with dynamic charge supplementation and multiphase electrode design to overcome persistent limitations in durability, energy storage, and water wave adaptability. The system achieves a 3-fold enhancement in output charge with 97% performance retention over 20 million cycles—5.2 times more durable than state-of-the art counterparts. A chaotic double-pendulum structure further broadens operational bandwidth to 0.4–1.0 Hz with the charge accumulation rate of 4.6 times, enabling record-breaking average power density of 13.53 W m⁻³ Hz⁻¹. Furthermore, an adaptive ultralow-powered (244 nW) integrated management circuit with on-demand direct current supply functionality ensures a 394-fold energy storage speed, successfully sustaining real-time GPS communication and water quality monitoring in autonomous buoys. This work establishes a scalable, maintenance-free paradigm for marine energy harvesting, directly addressing the energy paradox in IoT deployment while advancing sustainable resource management and climate resilience strategies.

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), a promising energy harvesting technology for distributed power sources, faces inevitable issues regarding long-term wear and durability. However, current low-wear TENGs are impaired by lower performances due to low charge density. Here, we propose to address both issues using a double charge supplement TENG (DCS-TENG). Adding two low friction charge brushes allows the DCS-TENG to achieve a high surface charge density (76.5 μC m−2) and power density (697.5 mW m−2 Hz-1), setting a new record among previously reported low-wear TENGs. Moreover, the device exhibits unprecedented durability with an attenuation of only 5% after continuous operation for 110 h (3,960,000 cycles). Using a customized energy management module, a 3×7 hygrothermograph array, a high-power vehicle’s radar and accelerometer modules were stably powered, demonstrating the DCS-TENG’s strong electrical load capacity. This strategy provides a facile and effective path to conjointly boost power output and durability of TENGs, taking them to the next level for practical applications.

Despite great potential of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) as a promising energy harvesting technology, their practical applications are still hindered by their pulsed outputs with high crest factor. Here, through a simple and easy method involving electrode misalignment (EM) and circuit connection, an exceedingly stable direct current (DC) multi-phase TENG (MP-TENG) with a high average output power at a constant current is developed. The MP-TENG obtained by rectifying and superimposing TENG units with phase difference in parallel can realize an ultra-low crest factor of 1.05 and an average power increase of 40.1%, compared with conventional single-phase TENG. Besides, when using rotor grids with different sizes from the electrodes and EM method, the common materials in daily life such as wood and cloth fabrics have been applied to generate DC-like outputs with a crest factor of less than 1.1, which expands dramatically the selection range of TENG materials. Due to the excellent DC performance of MP-TENG, 1000 LEDs and 54 bulbs can be easily lighted up without any flickers, and commercial electronics can be driven continuously to work stably. This work provides a paradigm shift to achieve high-output constant direct-current, which has widespread application prospects in the field of energy harvesting.

Touching sensing is among the most important sensing capabilities of a human, so is for smart robotics. Current researches on tactile sensors are mainly concentrated on electronic skin, but it is prone to be easily dirtied, damaged, and disturbed after repeated usage, which greatly limits its practical applications in robotics. Here, by mimicking the way that animals explore the environment using hair-based sensors, we designed a bendable biomimetic whisker mechanoreceptor (BWMR) for robotic tactile sensing. Owing to the advantages of triboelectric nanogenerator technology, the BWMR can convert external mechanical stimuli into electrical signals without power supply, which is conducive to its widespread applications in robots. Because of the leverage effect of the whisker, the BWMR can distinguish an exciting force of 1.129 μN by amplifying external weak signals, which can be further improved by increasing the whisker length. Real time sensing has been demonstrated using BWMR for exhibiting its potential for robotic tactile system.