Self-Powered and Autonomous Vibrational Wake-Up System Based on Triboelectric Nanogenerators and MEMS Switch

Yuan Lin; Youchao Qi; Jiaqi Wang; Guoxu Liu; Zhaozheng Wang; Junqing Zhao; Yi Lv; Zhi Zhang; Ning Tian; Mengbi Wang; Yuanfen Chen; Chi Zhang

doi:10.3390/s22103752

Self-Powered and Autonomous Vibrational Wake-Up System Based on Triboelectric Nanogenerators and MEMS Switch

Sensors (Basel). 2022 May 14;22(10):3752. doi: 10.3390/s22103752.

Authors

Yuan Lin^{1

2}, Youchao Qi^{2

3}, Jiaqi Wang², Guoxu Liu^{2

3}, Zhaozheng Wang^{2

3}, Junqing Zhao^{2

3}, Yi Lv^{2

3}, Zhi Zhang^{2

3}, Ning Tian⁴, Mengbi Wang⁵, Yuanfen Chen^{1

6}, Chi Zhang^{1

2

3

6}

Affiliations

¹ School of Mechanical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
² CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Beijing Key Laboratory of Micro-Nano Energy and Sensor, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, China.
³ School of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁴ Tsinghua Innovation Center in Zhuhai, Zhuhai 519080, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments Department of Precision Instrument Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
⁶ Center on Nanoenergy Research, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.

Abstract

With the extensive application of wireless sensing nodes, the demand for sustainable energy in unattended environments is increasing. Here, we report a self-powered and autonomous vibrational wake-up system (SAVWS) based on triboelectric nanogenerators and micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) switches. The energy triboelectric nanogenerator (E-TENG) harvests vibration energy to power the wireless transmitter through a MEMS switch. The signal triboelectric nanogenerator (S-TENG) controls the state of the MEMS switch as a self-powered accelerometer and shows good linearity in the acceleration range of 1-4.5 m/s² at 30 Hz with a sensitivity of about 14.6 V/(m/s²). When the acceleration increases, the S-TENG turns on the MEMS switch, and the wireless transmitter transmits an alarm signal with the energy from E-TENG, using only 0.64 mJ. Using TENGs simultaneously as an energy source and a sensor, the SAVWS provides a self-powered vibration monitoring solution for unattended environments and shows extensive applications and great promise in smart factories, autonomous driving, and the Internet of Things.

Keywords: MEMS switch; autonomous wireless sensing; self-powered accelerometer; triboelectric nanogenerator; vibrational energy harvesting; wake-up system.

Abstract

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