UV-Protective, Self-Cleaning, and Antibacterial Nanofiber-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Self-Powered Human Motion Monitoring.

Abstract

Equipping wearable electronics with special functions will endow them with more additional values and more comprehensive practical performance. Here, we report an ultraviolet (UV)-protective, self-cleaning, antibacterial, and self-powered all-nanofiber-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) for mechanical energy harvesting and self-powered sensing, which is fabricated with Ag nanowires (NWs)/TPU nanofibers and the TiO2@PAN networks through a facile electrospinning method. Due to the added TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs), the TENG presents excellent UV-protective performance, including the ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) of ∼204, the transmittance of UVA (TUVA) of ∼0.0574%, and the transmittance of UVB (TUVB) ∼0.107%. Furthermore, under solar lighting for 25 min, most surface contamination can be degraded, and the decreased power output would be recovered. Owing to the coupled effects of TiO2 NPs and Ag NWs, the TENG shows excellent antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. Due to the micro-to-nano hierarchical porous structure, the all-nanofiber-based TENG can serve as self-powered pedometers for detecting and tracking human motion behaviors. As a multifunctional self-powered device, the TENG prompts various applications in the fields of micro/nanopower sources, human movement monitoring, and human-machine interfaces, potentially providing an alternative energy solution and a multifunctional interactive platform for the next-generation wearable electronics.