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Underwater communication, despite constant development, still remains a challenging technology. Here, authors report an underwater wireless communication approach based on the triboelectric nanogenerator, which provides a self-powered communication system in complex underwater environments.

Harvesting bio-mechanical energy is a promising route to powering wearable electronics, however design obstacles remain. Here the authors report on a triboelectric nanogenerator with optimized materials and design that can sustainably power an electronic watch and fitness tracker solely by human motion.

Appropriate triboelectric material selection is vital to for high performance direct current triboelectric nanogenerator (DC-TENG). The authors here provide effective selection rules as guideline to select triboelectric materials for DC-TENG to reduce the trial-and-error cost for DC-TENG’s research.

Performance of triboelectric nanogenerators is limited by electrostatic breakdown. Here, the spontaneously established reverse electric field is introduced to restrict the side-discharge problem caused by electrostatic breakdown, leading to a high Coulombic efficiency and enhanced output power.

A self-powered electrical stimulation system that harvests wind and raindrop energy has the capacity to stimulate crop growth via the all-weather triboelectric nanogenerator. A small-scale experiment shows that the system can increase ~26.3% of the germination speed and ~17.9% of yield for peas.

Negative air ions (NAIs) have been widely harnessed for air purification and environmental therapeutics. Herein, the authors construct a triboelectric NAI generator that produces NAIs with high efficiency, stimulated by mechanical motions.

Low charge density is the bottleneck for the applications of triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). Here, the authors demonstrate a microstructure-designed direct-current TENG with rationally patterned electrode structure to enhance its effective charge density to a new milestone.

Triboelectric nanogenerators may benefit Internet-of-Things era energy demands, but application is hindered by low charge density. Here the authors maximize charge density in ambient conditions and achieve stable power generation in a triboelectric nanogenerator that can realize external and self-excitation.

Soft pumps have applications across various fields but are constrained by their dependence on external power sources. Here, the authors present a battery-free electrohydrodynamic soft pump that utilizes a triboelectric nanogenerator to harvest ambient energy, serving as the driving source for dielectric fluid flow.

Self-powered implantable devices have the potential to extend device operation, though current energy harvesters are both insufficient and inconvenient. Here the authors report on a commercial coin battery-sized high-performance inertia-driven triboelectric nanogenerator based on body motion and gravity that can be used to charge a lithium-ion battery and integrated into a cardiac pacemaker.

Conventionally, triboelectric nanogenerators are based on static charges fixed on dielectric surfaces. Here, the authors report a new mechanism using shuttling of mirror charge carriers corralled in quasi-symmetrical conduction domains, which boosts performance for blue energy harvesting.

Surface charge density is a key factor for developing high performance triboelectric nanogenerators. Herein, authors establish criteria to quantitatively evaluate the contact efficiency and air breakdown model on charge excitation triboelectric nanogenerators to maximize output charge density.

The energy harvesting potential of triboelectric nanogenerators is currently limited by their output power. Here, the authors design a triboelectric nanogenerator inspired by lightning generation, featuring an electric double layer that delivers impressive charge separation and electric potential.

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) harvest ambient mechanical energy and convert it into electrical energy. Here, the authors couple surface polarization from contact electrification with dielectric polarization from a ferroelectric material in vacuum to dramatically enhance the TENG output power.

Low power output and poor sensing ability are bottlenecks for the practical application of fabric-based triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). The authors develop a shape adaptable and highly resilient 3D braided TENG, which is endowed with enhanced power output and improved pressure sensitivity.

Triboelectric nanogenerators are a technology for converting mechanical energy into electricity, but standards for quantifying their performance is lacking. Here, the authors present figure-of-merits to quantitatively evaluate the performance of triboelectric nanogenerators and establish a foundation for further development.

A surface charge visualization and standardized quantification method and surface charge tuning is achieved for triboelectric materials, delivering essential tools for contact electrification and high-performance triboelectric nanogenerators.

Determining the triboelectric charge and energy density of dielectric materials is generally limited by many factors, failing to reflect their intrinsic behaviour. Here, a standardized strategy is proposed employing contact-separation TENG and supressing air-breakdown to assess max triboelectric charge and energy densities leading to an updated triboelectric series.

Intelligent sensing technologies gain interest for the internet of things and applications that require collection and analysis of big data. Here the authors report a flexible and durable wood-based triboelectric nanogenerator for self-powered sensing in athletic big data analytics.

High-speed electrostatic micromotors with low energy consumption are attractive for small-scale electromechanical systems, but applications are limited by power supplies. Here the authors use a triboelectric nanogenerator for actuation of a high-speed micromotor by low-frequency mechanical stimuli.

Triboelectric nanogenerators utilize triboelectrification for harvesting energy from ambient mechanical motions. Here, the authors report an integrated triboelectric nanogenerator system using only human biomechanical energy to generate mW-level DC electricity that is enough to continuously drive various commercial mobile electronics.

The use of epidermal growth factor for wound healing is limited by transdermal permeability, reduction, and receptor desensitization. Here the authors develop a microneedle-based self-powered transcutaneous electrical stimulation system to overcome these challenges.

The high output voltage of triboelectric nanogenerators enables well-controlled ion pulses for nanoelectrospray molecular mass spectrometry and surface modification.

Self-charging systems based on the connection of a nanogenerator and an energy storage unit through a rectifier can have low energy storage efficiencies. Here, the authors design the charging cycle to maximize the energy storage efficiency of a triboelectric nanogenerator by introducing a motion-induced switch.

Conditioning efficiently high-voltage triboelectric nanogenerators for low-voltage applications remains a challenge. Here, the authors demonstrate two orders of magnitude improvement of the energy harvesting efficiency by applying a conditioning circuit with self-sustained and automatic hysteresis MEMS micro-plasma switches.

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) convert mechanical energy into electric power by combining contact electrification and electrostatic induction. This Primer introduces the theoretical background of TENGs, gives an overview of fabrication methods and discusses how they can be applied as energy harvesting devices and self-powered systems.

High charge density is the foundation to promote a wide range of applications of triboelectric nanogenerators. Here, authors propose a processing method based on the repeated rheological forging of triboelectric polymers achieving an enhanced triboelectricity and further study its mechanism.

Power management systems are urgently needed for maximally utilizing the energy generated from triboelectric energy devices. Here, the authors report a fractal-designed switched-capacitor-convertor as a high efficiency power management strategy for triboelectric nanogenerators.

In situ methods for water quality monitoring is crucial for global water use and management, though many conventional sensors have slow response time and are non-recyclable. Here, the authors report a recyclable amphiphobic dielectric material for fast monitoring of water pollutants.

Weather-dependent energies are sensitive to weather and geographical conditions. Here, authors propose an all-weather sustainable device integrating a triboelectric nanogenerator and radiative cooler, enabling energy harvesting from rain and saving energy on a sunny day.

The analysis of metabolites offers promises in biomarker discovery. Here the authors demonstrate the metabolomics analysis of sub-nanoliter samples using triboelectric nanogenerator inductive nanoelectrospray ionization, which they apply to exhaled breath condensate from cystic fibrosis patients and mesenchymal stromal cells.

Energy harvesting from the environment by portable and flexible power sources can power a variety of devices sustainably. Chen et al. report a hybrid power textile with solar cells and triboelectric nanogenerators that can simultaneously harvest solar and mechanical energy.

Gas discharge plasma sources are bulky and of limited use in remote areas with no external power supply. Here the authors create triboelectric plasma by triggering TENGs with mechanical stimuli and discuss its application as a portable plasma source.

Low power electronics endowed with artificial intelligence and biological afferent characters are beneficial to neuromorphic sensory network. Here, the authors report contact-electrification-activated artificial afferent at femtojoule energy, which is able to carry out spatiotemporal recognition on external stimuli.

Wind-driven triboelectric nanogenerators have the potential to revolutionize wind energy harvesting technologies. This Review analyses developments, costs and challenges of wind-driven triboelectric nanogenerators and evaluates research directions towards industrial applications.

Triboelectric nanogenerators harvest energy by contacting two solids or a liquid and a solid. Here the authors use a conductive liquid membrane as a permeable electrode to demonstrate triboelectrification via liquid–liquid contact by passing liquid droplets through a liquid membrane to generate power.

A biodegradable triboelectric nanogenerator made from both natural and synthetic biodegradable materials that is utilized to collect mechanical energy in vivo and transduce it into electricity. Reed film and polylactic acid were chosen among different biodegradable materials as the triboelectric layers due to having the best output performance. The nanogenerator was connected to an interdigital electrode to generate an electric field, which stimulated the accelerated release of doxorubicin from red blood cells in targeted drug delivery systems. The release of doxorubicin normalized, facilitating the precise killing of cancer cells, demonstrating the broad potential in the field of cancer treatments.

In targeted protein degradation, a degrader molecule brings a neosubstrate protein proximal to a hijacked E3 ligase for its ubiquitination. Here, pseudo-natural products derived from (−)-myrtanol—iDegs—are identified to inhibit and induce degradation of the immunomodulatory enzyme indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) by a distinct mechanism. iDegs prime apo-IDO1 ubiquitination and subsequent degradation using its native proteolytic pathway.

Difficulties in separating tribo and piezoelectric hybrid signals can lead to an overestimated contribution of the latter. Here, authors propose a method to separate these hybrid signals in the time domain, precisely extracting piezoelectric charge transfer for performance evaluation.

Osmotic power source based on 2D nanofluidic graphene oxide could overcome humidity and temperature limitations due to high areal power density purely from ion gradient. Here, authors couple it with triboelectric nanogenerator, and demonstrate a self-chargeable conformable tribo-iontronic device.

Eye tracking systems are crucial for eye health-monitoring and human-machine engineering. Here, Shi et. al. report a transparent and flexible active eye tracking system based on an electrostatic induction effect, enabling visual preference analysis and eye-controlled human-computer interaction.

Human motions often contain information that is useful for orthopedic/neural disease diagnosis, rehabilitation, and prevention. Here, the authors show a badge-reel-like stretch sensing device with a grating-structured triboelectric nanogenerator for joints/spine bending or stretching sensing.

This research develops a direct-current triboiontronic nanogenerator by dynamically controlling asymmetric electrical double layer formation, achieving a transferred charge density of 412.54 mC/m². Incorporating redox reactions enhances the peak power and charge density to 38.64 W/m² and 540.70 mC/m².

Low-cost, mass-scalable production routes which preserve the quality of the single crystals are required to up-scale van der Waals materials. Here, the authors demonstrate an approach to realise a variety of functional heterostructures based on van der Waals nanocrystal films produced through the mechanical abrasion of bulk powders.

Understanding contact electrification within the liquid–solid interface is critical for further applications in energy conversion and storage devices. Here, the authors reveal liquid–solid interactions regarding the charge transfer mechanism and pinning factor from the electronic perspective.

The anti-freezing property of electrolyte is crucial for aqueous batteries under extreme conditions. Here authors explore the relationship between tetrahedral entropy and the freezing behavior of aqueous electrolyte, and further develop anti-freezing electrolyte for aqueous zinc ion batteries.