Article
Chemistry, Physical
Xin Huang, Yuyan Wang, Xinxing Zhang
Summary: Efforts to develop scalable polymeric PENGs with sensitive and stable piezoelectric output are still challenging. A noncovalent assembly-mediated solid-state drawing strategy is proposed for the fabrication of high-performance PENGs with hierarchically anisotropic structure. The resulted nanocomposite exhibits remarkable piezoelectric and mechanical performance, surpassing most reported polymeric piezoelectric materials.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Jiayi Yang, Sida Liu, Yan Meng, Wei Xu, Shuangshuang Liu, Lingjie Jia, Guobin Chen, Yong Qin, Mengdi Han, Xiuhan Li
Summary: A multifunctional wearable tactile sensor assisted by deep learning algorithms is developed, which can realize the functions of gesture recognition and interaction. The sensor has a high power density and sensibility, and is integrated on a glove to collect the electrical signal output generated by the gesture.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Maosen Yang, Jinmei Liu, Dong Liu, Jingyi Jiao, Nuanyang Cui, Shuhai Liu, Qi Xu, Long Gu, Yong Qin
Summary: The study introduces a fully self-healing PENG as a self-powered pressure-sensing electronic skin which can maintain good self-healing and stable sensing properties even after multiple cutting and self-healing processes. Researchers attached a self-healing pressure sensor array composed of 9 FS-PENGs on the back of the human hand to accurately monitor the spatial position distribution and magnitude of pressure.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Peng Li, Zekun Zhang, Wangtian Shen, Chunguang Hu, Wanfu Shen, Dongzhi Zhang
Summary: The 2D SnSe crystals exhibit excellent piezoelectricity, generating an output voltage of up to 760 mV. By integrating a SnSe nanogenerator with a MoS2 sensor, a multi-functional self-powered sensor unit (SPSU) is created with superb sensing performance. This system is driven by energy generated from heartbeats and mechanical bending, demonstrating promising applications in various sensing technologies.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Cuicui Su, Xiaocheng Huang, Lingling Zhang, Yuanzheng Zhang, Zhenhua Yu, Caleb Chen, Yumin Ye, Shishang Guo
Summary: This article reports a stable superhydrophobic antibacterial self-powered piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) sensor. The sensor is composed of a flexible electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) piezoelectric nanofiber membrane, spray-coated interdigitated carbon nanotube electrodes, and a crosslinked hydrophobic nanocoating. It can accurately monitor human behaviors such as breathing and various motions, while providing self-cleaning, superhydrophobicity, and over 90% antibacterial rate. The sensor shows reliable and durable sensing performance under harsh environments and has been successfully integrated into shoe insoles for human gait monitoring.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Chaohai Li, Liang Qiao, Yuxuan Zhu, Fang Yu, Biaolin Peng, Zhong Lin Wang, Kailiang Ren
Summary: In this study, a porous biocompatible polylactide (PLA) film is prepared for electret-based triboelectric nanogenerator (E-TENG) application. The film shows good maintenance of surface potential and the E-TENG combined with a piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) achieves higher output power. The porous PLA film offers biocompatibility, softness, and ease of processing, making it suitable for wearable devices applications.
ADVANCED SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Swati Panda, Hyoju Shin, Sugato Hajra, Yumi Oh, Wonjeong Oh, Jeonghyeon Lee, P. M. Rajaitha, Basanta Kumar Panigrahi, Jyoti Shukla, Alok Kumar Sahu, Perumal Alagarsamy, Hoe Joon Kim
Summary: Lead-free piezoelectric ceramics are promising materials for energy harvesters due to their superior electromechanical, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric properties. A new lead-free ferroelectric material SrTi2O5 (STO) was synthesized and its structural, morphological, and electrical properties were analyzed. PDMS-STO composites were prepared and a piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) with the highest peak-to-peak voltage, current, and power density of 25 V, 92 nA, and 0.64 mW was developed. The PENG device was used for biomechanical energy harvesting and snoring signal recording, with efforts to differentiate between normal and abnormal snores for disease detection.
JOURNAL OF MATERIOMICS
(2023)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
B. S. Athira, Ashitha George, K. Vaishna Priya, U. S. Hareesh, E. Bhoje Gowd, Kuzhichalil Peethambharan Surendran, Achu Chandran
Summary: In the era of intelligent electronics and IoT, there is a high demand for flexible and wearable devices. A flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator based on electrospun PVDF-BT composite nanofibers has been developed, showing enhanced electroactive phase. The device delivers high output power density and can be used for real-time vibration sensing.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2022)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Nishat Kumar Das, Sushmitha Veeralingam, Sushmee Badhulika
Summary: This study presents a low-cost, flexible, and skin-conformal wearable piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) based on hydrothermally grown zinc ferrite nanoparticles (ZFO nanoparticles) and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) composite for monitoring patients' activities. The fabricated PENG demonstrates excellent stability and has enormous potential in the healthcare sector.
ACS APPLIED NANO MATERIALS
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Long Liu, Xinge Guo, Weixin Liu, Chengkuo Lee
Summary: This article reviews the development of energy harvesting technology, focusing on its applications in various fields and the future development of smart cities. From the evolution of materials and technologies to specific applications, it explores the role of energy harvesting in smart homes, sensing, robotics, aerospace, and other areas.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yan-Yuan Ba, Jing-Fu Bao, Zhi-Yong Wang, Hai-Tao Deng, Dan-Liang Wen, Xin-Ran Zhang, Cheng Tu, Xiao-Sheng Zhang
Summary: This study explores a novel configuration of TENG array based on the electrode-miniaturized strategy, comprehensively investigating its effects on electrical output, optical transmittance, and signal interference. The results show that electrode miniaturization has little impact on the electrical output of TENG, while providing higher light transmittance and lower signal interference, making it suitable for self-powered smart microsystems, particularly in applications requiring excellent optical properties.
Review
Chemistry, Physical
Ping Sun, Saihua Jiang, Yubin Huang
Summary: This research reviews the application of safety monitoring based on NG, showing the potential of NG in monitoring safety-related information about environments, machines, and human bodies, and proposing that NG sensors will bring a new low-cost, precise, and intelligent way for safety monitoring.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Dongyue Wang, Dongzhi Zhang, Peng Li, Zhimin Yang, Qian Mi, Liandong Yu
Summary: A self-powered flexible humidity sensor integrated with PVA/MXene nanofibers film and MoSe2 PENG technology was reported in this study. The sensor exhibits high response rate, fast response/recovery time, low hysteresis, and excellent repeatability, making it suitable for detecting human skin moisture and ambient humidity.
NANO-MICRO LETTERS
(2021)
Review
Engineering, Biomedical
Kuntal Kumar Das, Bikramjit Basu, Pralay Maiti, Ashutosh Kumar Dubey
Summary: Piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENGs) hold great promise in personalized healthcare, providing self-powered sensors, drug delivery systems, and tissue regeneration. This comprehensive review examines the recent advancements in synthetic and nature-inspired piezoelectric materials for PENGs and discusses the potential of these materials and data science approaches to enhance personalized healthcare devices.
ACTA BIOMATERIALIA
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Analytical
Ziao Xue, Li Wu, Junlin Yuan, Guodong Xu, Yuxiang Wu
Summary: Human physiological signals, divided into physical and chemical signals, play an important role in guiding human health and exercise training. With the development of biosensors, self-powered sensors that are soft, stretchable, and nanoscale have emerged. Nanogenerators and biofuel cells are widely used in self-powered biosensors, enabling accurate monitoring of physiological states and providing energy for long-range medical care and sports health. This review presents the classification of human signals, forms of biosensors, and sources of self-powered biosensor devices, as well as the applications of nanogenerators in self-powered biosensors.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Bowen Yao, Shuwang Wu, Ruoxing Wang, Yichen Yan, Anne Cardenas, Dong Wu, Yousif Alsaid, Wenzhuo Wu, Xinyuan Zhu, Ximin He
Summary: Ionotronics are emerging devices that combine gel ionic conductors and electronic circuits, showing promise as stretchable alternatives to rigid devices. A systematic strategy using highly ionically-conductive anti-freezing hydrogel and electronically-conductive porous polymer films as electrodes has been proposed to improve the performance of current hydrogel ionotronics. This strategy enables much higher fidelity of ion-electron signal transduction and can be applied to various ionotronics for broad applications.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2022)
Review
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Meng Hao Lee, Wenzhuo Wu
Summary: This review summarizes the research progress in wearable energy harvesting technologies based on 2D materials, including the synthesis methods, the relationship between material structures/properties and device performance. Challenges and future research opportunities are identified and discussed based on the current progress.
ADVANCED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGIES
(2022)
Review
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Gang Qiu, Adam Charnas, Chang Niu, Yixiu Wang, Wenzhuo Wu, Peide D. Ye
Summary: The development of graphene has led to the search for new elemental van der Waals materials, and tellurium is one such material with promising applications in the field of electronic devices. This paper reviews recent progress in synthesizing thin films and nanowires of tellurium, discusses its applications in transistors and CMOS circuits, and explores its quantum transport and topological features. The breakthrough in obtaining high-quality thin films of tellurium is expected to inspire further research on its fundamental properties.
NPJ 2D MATERIALS AND APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Thermodynamics
Yanhua Cheng, Xiaolong Yang, Zherui Han, Wenzhuo Wu, Xiaobing Luo, Xiulin Ruan
Summary: The thermal conductivity of bilayer alpha-phase tellurene (2L-alpha Te) was found to be higher in the cross-chain (CC) direction than in the along-chain direction, contrary to the typical behavior in layered materials. The anomalous phenomenon was attributed to changes in the lattice structure and phonon spectra of 2L-alpha Te.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
H. Yang, R. Wang, W. Wu
Summary: This article discusses the latest developments and applications of bio-derived wearable triboelectric sensors in human-integrated technology. The materials and functionalities used in these sensors are discussed, and the opportunities and challenges in their development are explored.
MATERIALS TODAY SUSTAINABILITY
(2022)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Young Won Kim, Semih Akin, Huitaek Yun, Shujia Xu, Wenzhuo Wu, Martin Byung-Guk Jun
Summary: In this study, a high-performance triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) was developed using cold spray (CS) deposition of composite material layers. By improving the material and geometry, the TENG exhibited enhanced electricity generation performance and sustainable robustness, which has potential applications in self-powered sensors.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Manufacturing
Jinsheng Fan, Naomi Deneke, Shujia Xu, Brittany Newell, Jose Garcia, Chelsea Davis, Wenzhuo Wu, Richard M. Voyles, Robert A. Nawrocki
Summary: The development of science and technology has simplified the fabrication of functional materials and devices. The EPAM technology provides a new avenue for directly printing piezoelectric materials with improved characteristics.
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ruifang Zhang, Jing Jiang, Wenzhuo Wu
Summary: Chemical sensors worn on the body can continuously and accurately monitor vital human signals, which is essential for remote health monitoring and telemedicine. Atomically thin materials with unique physical features, diverse chemistry, and high surface-to-volume ratios are attractive for creating high-performance wearable chemical sensors. This article provides an overview of recent advances in 2D-material-based wearable chemical sensors, including their structure design, manufacturing techniques, mechanisms, and applicability in human health monitoring. It also discusses the current state of the art, technological gaps, challenges, and opportunities associated with designing and implementing 2D wearable chemical sensors.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Chang Niu, Shouyuan Huang, Neil Ghosh, Pukun Tan, Mingyi Wang, Wenzhuo Wu, Xianfan Xu, Peide D. Ye
Summary: Chirality arises from the asymmetry of materials, where two counterparts are the mirror image of each other. The interaction between circular-polarized light and quantum materials is enhanced in chiral space groups due to the structural chirality. Tellurium (Te) possesses the simplest chiral crystal structure, with Te atoms covalently bonded into a spiral atomic chain (left-or right-handed) with a periodicity of 3. Here, we investigate the tunable circular photoelectric responses in 2D Te field-effect transistors with different chirality, including the longitudinal circular photogalvanic effect induced by the radial spin texture (electron-spin polarization parallel to the electron momentum direction) and the circular photovoltaic effect induced by the chiral crystal structure (helical Te atomic chains). Our work demonstrates the controllable manipulation of the chirality degree of freedom in materials.
Article
Robotics
Chenxi Xiao, Aaron Benjamin Woeppel, Gina Marie Clepper, Shengjie Gao, Shujia Xu, Johannes F. Rueschen, Daniel Kruse, Wenzhuo Wu, Hong Z. Tan, Thomas Low, Stephen P. Beaudoin, Bryan W. Boudouris, William G. Haris, Juan P. Wachs
Summary: This article focuses on the study and development of innovative techniques for a new robot platform, including the use of an organic electrochemical transistor device to detect explosive residues and make safe removal decisions, utilizing Taurus' surgical gripper for object tactile exploration and precise manipulation, and implementing a highly sensitive triboelectric tactile sensor to reduce intrusiveness and detonation risk. Haptic devices, visual displays, and machine learning are also employed to enhance the teleoperator's situational awareness and object identification from tactile sampling, allowing for a sensitive approach to concealed objects accessible only through tactile sensing.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Chang Niu, Gang Qiu, Yixiu Wang, Pukun Tan, Mingyi Wang, Jie Jian, Haiyan Wang, Wenzhuo Wu, Peide D. Ye
Summary: In this study, the chirality of hydrothermally grown 2D Te is identified and analyzed, and gate-tunable nonlinear electrical responses are observed in 2D Te under a magnetic field, with opposite signs in left- and right-handed 2D Te due to the chiral symmetry. The fundamental relationship between spin-orbit coupling and crystal symmetry in two enantiomers provides a viable platform for chirality-based electronic devices.
Review
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Jing Jiang, Ruifang Zhang, Wenzhuo Wu
Summary: 2D materials with exceptional physical and chemical characteristics are attractive for wearable technology. However, most reported 2D materials are n-type due to electron doping effects. Complementary electronic devices and high-performance wearable sensors require the development of p-type 2D semiconductors. This review paper discusses recent advancements in p-type semiconductor-based wearable sensors, including understanding, synthesis, fabrication, devices, and performance insights.
ADVANCED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGIES
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Jing Jiang, Ruifang Zhang, Meng Hao Lee, Wenzhuo Wu
Summary: In this study, a flexible piezo-electrocatalytic uric acid sensor (EPICS) based on ZnO nanorods was designed and implemented for non-invasive monitoring of uric acid levels. The EPICS devices achieved a 4-fold enhancement in sensing performance with a small compressive strain, exhibiting superior sensitivity and low detection limit. The design can be extended to other piezoelectric materials with catalytic properties for high-performance sensing in various fields.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Ruifang Zhang, Yuqing Meng, Lu-Cun Wang, Min Wang, Wei Wu, Wenzhuo Wu, Dong Ding
Summary: This study demonstrates that integrating a highly efficient thermal catalyst with a solid oxide fuel cell can effectively enhance the electrochemical and catalytic performance for propane conversion. The integrated catalyst exhibits improved power density and activity compared to conventional catalysts, achieving higher propylene selectivity and coke tolerance. This work provides a general approach for boosting the performances of p-SOFCs in chemical production.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Ruifang Zhang, Jing Jiang, Wenzhuo Wu
Summary: This study reviews the recent advances in 2D materials-based wearable health sensors, discussing their structure design, fabrication processing, and applications, as well as providing a systematic discussion of the state-of-the-art and technological gaps for enabling future design and nanomanufacturing.