A hand-driven portable triboelectric nanogenerator using whirligig spinning dynamics

Pervasive and portable energy solutions are highly desired in the era of Internet of Things for powering widerange distributed electronics. Human body contains renewable biomechanical energy sources, which could be harnessed for sustainable electricity generation as portable power sources for wearable bioelectronics. Herein, we propose an ultralow-cost, efficient, portable hand-driven triboelectric nanogenerator (HD-TENG) enabled by whirligig spinning to harvest energy from low-frequency and linear human biomechanical motions. Remarkably, the operating HD-TENG could easily achieve a rotational speed of over 10,000 rpm with a gentle hand stretching in a linear and periodic manner. The reported HD-TENG was demonstrated to charge a 220 ?F commercial capacitor up to 3 V in less than 80 s, and continuously drive a smart bracelet for health monitoring, and a portable MPEG-1 audio layer III for music playing. With a collection features of high output power, light weight, excellent portability, ease of transport, cost-effectiveness, and environmental friendliness, the ingeniously designed HD-TENG represents a convenient green power supply approach for wearable bioelectronics in the era of Internet of Things.

Automated summary

The study introduces a portable hand-driven triboelectric nanogenerator that harvests energy from human biomechanical motions, providing a green power supply for wearable bioelectronics.