Self-powered Internet of Things sensing node based on triboelectric nanogenerator for sustainable environmental monitoring

The myriad sensing nodes in the Internet of Things (IoT) are mainly powered by battery, which has limited the lifespan and increased the maintenance costs. Herein, a self-powered IoT sensing node based on triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is proposed for the sustainable environmental monitoring. The wind powered TENG (W-TENG) is adopted in freestanding mode with the rabbit hair and six pairs of finger electrodes. With the energy management module, the weak electrical energy from W-TENG can be converted into a stable direct current (DC) 2.5 V voltage for the operation of the IoT sensing node. When the storage energy exceeds 4.4 V, the node can be activated, then the microprogrammed control unit (MCU) transmits the monitoring data. Thereafter, the monitoring data will be identified and relayed to the IoT cloud platform by narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) module. At a wind speed of 8.4 m/s, the node can realize the wireless monitoring and data transmission for temperature and atmosphere pressure every 30 s. This work has provided a universal strategy for sustainable IoT sensing nodes powered by environmental micro-nano mechanical energy and exhibited potential applications in IoT, big data, and environmental monitoring.