Simultaneous energy harvesting and signal sensing from a single triboelectric nanogenerator for intelligent self-powered wireless sensing systems

The puzzle of sustainable power and reliable signal sensing poses a tough challenge for electronic systems in the era of the Internet of Things. Fortunately, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), as a promising electro-mechanical conversion method, has been widely used to solve these two problems as reported. In existing reports, TENG is used either as an energy harvester or a self-powered sensor, yet it cannot undertake both demands at the same time in a single system. In this work, by proposing a method of decoupling/extracting signals and energy, energy harvesting and signal sensing in a single device were both achieved by extracting the energy and capturing signal simultaneously from a rotating triboelectric nanogenerator (R-TENG), through which a real self-powered sensing system is realized. Firstly, we proposed a R-TENG device adopting PCB manufacturing process, which can obtain energy and sense signals from external rotation. Then, we designed a decoupled signal processing unit and a reserved power management unit that supplies for the signal processing unit and an additional wireless transmission module with a microcontroller. Finally, we set up a validation system that uses wind-driven R-TENG to collect wind energy while detecting wind speed information. The collected energy powers the entire system and the measured wind speed information is successfully transmitted to the receiving end wirelessly. This method of decoupling/extracting signals and energy expands the application of TENG that it can be used as energy harvester and sensor simultaneously in a self-powered system.