Wearable and humidity-resistant biomaterials-based triboelectric nanogenerator for high entropy energy harvesting and self-powered sensing

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) provides a new solution to the energy supply by harvesting high entropy energy. However, wearable electronic devices have high requirements for flexible, humidity-resistant, and low-cost TENG. Here, environment-friendly and multi-functional wheat starch TENG (S-TENG) was made by a simple and green method. The open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current of S-TENG are 151.4 V and 47.1 μA, respectively. S-TENG can be used not only to drive and intelligently control electronic equipment, but also to effectively harvest energy from body movements and wind. In addition, the output of S-TENG was not negatively affected with the increase in environmental humidity, but increased abnormally. In the range of 20% RH–80% RH, S-TENG can be potentially used as a sensitive self-powered humidity sensor. The S-TENG paves the way for large-scale preparation of multi-functional biomaterials-based TENG, and practical application of self-powered sensing and wearable devices.