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Nano Research 2022, 15(6): 5425-5434 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4125-9
Research Article | Issue | Published: 15 March 2022

Fully self-powered instantaneous wireless liquid level sensor system based on triboelectric nanogenerator

Show Author's Information Liangquan Xu1,  Yuzhi Tang1,  Chi Zhang2,3,  Fuhai Liu1,4,  Jinkai Chen1,  Weipeng Xuan1( ),  Hao Jin2,3,  Zhi Ye2,3,  Zhen Cao2,3,  Yubo Li2,3,  Xiaozi Wang2,3,  Shurong Dong2,3,  Jikui Luo2,3( )
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of RF Circuits and Systems, College of Electronics & Information Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, China
College of Information Science and Electronic Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
International Joint Innovation Center, Zhejiang University, Haining 314400, China
Special Equipment College, Hangzhou Vocational & Technical College, Hangzhou 310018, China
Keywords:
triboelectric nanogenerator, self-powered sensor, liquid level sensing, wireless and chipless sensor
Topics:
Nano device
Cite this article:
Xu L, Tang Y, Zhang C, et al. Fully self-powered instantaneous wireless liquid level sensor system based on triboelectric nanogenerator. Nano Research, 2022, 15(6): 5425-5434. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4125-9
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Self-powered sensors are highly sought for wireless sensing applications in space exploration, industries, and environmental monitoring, etc. However, most current self-powered sensor technologies are based on the multiple energy conversion routine: energy collection, rectification, energy storage, and power management before it can be used for sensor systems, leading to exceptionally low energy utilization efficiency and very short periods of wireless sensing operation with majority of information lost. Here, we propose a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) based fully self-powered instantaneous and real-time wireless sensor system which does not contain electronic devices and microchips, but the passive components only. An innovative cylindrical capacitive-type liquid level sensor is also proposed and is then integrated into the wireless sensor system for monitoring liquid levels or identifying substance of the liquids. This sensor system can convert pulsed voltage output of the TENG into sinusoidal signal with a resonant frequency containing the sensing information and is transmitted to the receiver in distance in real-time. The maximum transmission distance of the sensor system could reach 1.5 m for a 10 cm diameter magnetic-core coil pair. The wireless sensor system exhibited excellent stability and excellent linearity with a sensitivity of 4.63 kHz/cm, and demonstrated its great application potential for the self-powered liquid level monitoring.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Fully self-powered instantaneous wireless liquid level sensor system based on triboelectric nanogenerator

Show Author's information Liangquan Xu1, Yuzhi Tang1, Chi Zhang2,3, Fuhai Liu1,4, Jinkai Chen1, Weipeng Xuan1( ), Hao Jin2,3, Zhi Ye2,3, Zhen Cao2,3, Yubo Li2,3, Xiaozi Wang2,3, Shurong Dong2,3, Jikui Luo2,3( )
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of RF Circuits and Systems, College of Electronics & Information Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, China
College of Information Science and Electronic Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
International Joint Innovation Center, Zhejiang University, Haining 314400, China
Special Equipment College, Hangzhou Vocational & Technical College, Hangzhou 310018, China

Abstract

Self-powered sensors are highly sought for wireless sensing applications in space exploration, industries, and environmental monitoring, etc. However, most current self-powered sensor technologies are based on the multiple energy conversion routine: energy collection, rectification, energy storage, and power management before it can be used for sensor systems, leading to exceptionally low energy utilization efficiency and very short periods of wireless sensing operation with majority of information lost. Here, we propose a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) based fully self-powered instantaneous and real-time wireless sensor system which does not contain electronic devices and microchips, but the passive components only. An innovative cylindrical capacitive-type liquid level sensor is also proposed and is then integrated into the wireless sensor system for monitoring liquid levels or identifying substance of the liquids. This sensor system can convert pulsed voltage output of the TENG into sinusoidal signal with a resonant frequency containing the sensing information and is transmitted to the receiver in distance in real-time. The maximum transmission distance of the sensor system could reach 1.5 m for a 10 cm diameter magnetic-core coil pair. The wireless sensor system exhibited excellent stability and excellent linearity with a sensitivity of 4.63 kHz/cm, and demonstrated its great application potential for the self-powered liquid level monitoring.

Keywords: triboelectric nanogenerator, self-powered sensor, liquid level sensing, wireless and chipless sensor

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 08 November 2021
Revised: 29 December 2021
Accepted: 30 December 2021
Published: 15 March 2022
Issue date: June 2022

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2018YFB2002500), Zhejiang Province Key R & D programs (Nos. 2021C05004 and 2020C03039), NSFC (Nos. 61974037, 61904042, and 61801158), Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang (No. LY21F040006), and Zhejiang University Education Foundation Global Partnership.

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