Self-Powered Sensors and Systems Based on Nanogenerators

Sensor networks are essential for the development of the Internet of Things and the smart city. A general sensor, especially a mobile sensor, has to be driven by a power unit. When considering the high mobility, wide distribution and wireless operation of the sensors, their sustainable operation rem...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 20; no. 10; p. 2925
Main Authors Wu, Zhiyi, Cheng, Tinghai, Wang, Zhong Lin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland MDPI AG 21.05.2020
MDPI
Subjects
Alternative energy
Electric fields
Energy conversion
Energy harvesting
Energy storage
Environmental monitoring
Internet of Things
Microelectromechanical systems
Nanogenerators
piezoelectric nanogenerator
Power management
Power sources
Power supply
Review
self-powered
Sensors
Smart cities
Smartphones
Solar energy
Storage units
triboelectric nanogenerator
Wearable technology
Zinc oxides
China
triboelectric nanogenerator
sensors
self-powered
piezoelectric nanogenerator
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Summary:Sensor networks are essential for the development of the Internet of Things and the smart city. A general sensor, especially a mobile sensor, has to be driven by a power unit. When considering the high mobility, wide distribution and wireless operation of the sensors, their sustainable operation remains a critical challenge owing to the limited lifetime of an energy storage unit. In 2006, Wang proposed the concept of self-powered sensors/system, which harvests ambient energy to continuously drive a sensor without the use of an external power source. Based on the piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) and triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), extensive studies have focused on self-powered sensors. TENG and PENG, as effective mechanical-to-electricity energy conversion technologies, have been used not only as power sources but also as active sensing devices in many application fields, including physical sensors, wearable devices, biomedical and health care, human-machine interface, chemical and environmental monitoring, smart traffic, smart cities, robotics, and fiber and fabric sensors. In this review, we systematically summarize the progress made by TENG and PENG in those application fields. A perspective will be given about the future of self-powered sensors.
ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI:10.3390/s20102925