Large Scale Triboelectric Nanogenerator and Self-Powered Flexible Sensor for Human Sleep Monitoring

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 18; no. 6; p. 1713
• Main Authors: Ding, Xiaoheng, Cao, Hailin, Zhang, Xinghong, Li, Mingyu, Liu, Yuntian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 25.05.2018; MDPI
• Subjects: Biosensing Techniques - methods; Electric Power Supplies; flexible sensor; Humans; Models, Theoretical; Nanotechnology - methods; Nanotubes, Carbon - chemistry; Polysomnography - methods; self-powered sensor; Sensors; Sleep - physiology; sleeping monitoring; Touch - physiology; triboelectric; sleeping monitoring; triboelectric; flexible sensor; self-powered sensor
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s18061713

The triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and its application as a sensor is a popular research subject. There is demand for self-powered, flexible sensors with high sensitivity and high power-output for the next generation of consumer electronics. In this study, a 300 mm × 300 mm carbon nanotube (CNT)-doped porous PDMS film was successfully fabricated wherein the CNT influenced the micropore structure. A self-powered TENG tactile sensor was established according to triboelectric theory. The CNT-doped porous TENG showed a voltage output seven times higher than undoped porous TENG and 16 times higher than TENG with pure PDMS, respectively. The TENG successfully acquired human motion signals, breath signals, and heartbeat signals during a sleep monitoring experiment. The results presented here may provide an effective approach for fabricating large-scale and low-cost flexible TENG sensors.