Bacterial Nano-Cellulose Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Motivated by a desire to resolve the needs of sustainable energy resources, remote sensing electronics, wireless autonomous devices, mobile internet of things (IoT) and portable self-power generators, triboelectric nanogenerators have recently been suggested. However, more specialized target applications to biomedical and wearable devices will require biocompatible and eco-friendly triboelectric materials in power generators. Herein, we report for the first time a bio-triboelectric nanogenerator based on an eco-friendly and naturally abundant biomaterial, bacterial nanocellulose. Initially, bacterial cellulose pellicles were produced in a gel state by Acetobacter xylinum KJ1 in the Glu-Fruc medium and then a bacterial nanocellulose film having transparent and flexible functionalities was regenerated on a current collector via a solubilization process. The bacterial nanocellulose triboelectric nanogenerator was investigated with various input conditions and structural aspects. The working mechanism was also considered by measuring the contact angle and the surface potential of the friction materials. We believe that this study provides new insights to advancing the biocompatible and ecofriendly triboelectric power generator and optimization strategies to achieve high performance of triboelectric nanogenerators.