Publication

We report a human skin-based wearable and hybrid triboelectric-piezoelectric nanogenerator (HTEPENG) for harvesting biomechanical energy from hand-clapping to eliminate the need for batteries to drive portable electronic devices. Through smart integration of polyimide encapsulated polarized polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF) film between two nanopillar polydimethylsiloxane (n-PDMS) films, the hybrid nanogenerator can pro-duce two triboelectric outputs and one piezoelectric output simultaneously upon a single clap. The output performances of the HTEPENG have been optimized through systematic analysis and experimental validation of the surface morphology and coupling effect of interfacing materials. The as-fabricated HTEPENG device delivers a peak power density of 3.7 W/m2at a matched resistance of 23.08 MΩ. After the use of a custom-designed power conversion and management system (PCMS), the nanogenerator was able to drive a commercial pedometer and successfully recharged a trimmer, pocket Wi-Fi router, and smartphone individually, which might speed up commercialization of the wearable nanogenerators. Furthermore, the HTEPENG possesses a unique characteristic of modulated multi-level outputs, which has the potential to bring extensive application prospects in the field of logic devices, power supply, prosthetics, antistatic protection, and self-powered sensor networks. Even though clapping is a natural human activity to applaud somebody which is very common in many environments like a concert, theatre, and stadium, it is also well known to improve the overall human health by improving the blood circulation to various organs. Thereby, other than serving as a universal power source, the proposed hybrid nanogenerator can promote additional health benefit for the human