Green-in-green biohybrids as transient biotriboelectric nanogenerators

Chuanfeng Wang; Liang Lu; Wei Li; Dingyun Shao; Chaoliang Zhang; Jun Lu; Weiqing Yang

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.105494

Green-in-green biohybrids as transient biotriboelectric nanogenerators

iScience. 2022 Nov 11;25(12):105494. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105494. eCollection 2022 Dec 22.

Authors

Chuanfeng Wang¹, Liang Lu¹, Wei Li¹, Dingyun Shao¹, Chaoliang Zhang², Jun Lu¹, Weiqing Yang¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Advanced Technologies of Materials, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610031, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China.

Abstract

Green self-powered devices based on biodegradable materials have attracted widespread attention. Here, we propose the construction of the transient biotriboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) using green-in-green bionanocompoites. The green-in-green nanocomposites, cellulose nanocrystal (CNC)/polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), are prepared with a high-pressure molding method. The CNC promotes the degradation and enhances the dielectric constant of CNC/PHB. It further allows for the significant improvement of the triboelectric output of CNC/PHB-based TENG. The voltage output and current output of CNC/PHB-based TENG are 5.7 and 12.5 times higher than those of pristine PHB-based TENG, respectively. Also, the bio-TENG exhibits admirable signal stability in over 20000 cycles. Despite the high hardness of CNC/PHB, a soft but simple-structured arch sensor is successfully assembled using CNC/PHB-based TENG. It can attain the precise real-time monitoring of various human motions. This study may provide new insights into the design/fabrication of green functional materials, and initiate the next wave of innovations in eco-friendly self-powered devices.

Keywords: Environmental nanotechnology; Nanoelectrochemistry; Nanotechnology.