Publications

The long-term durability of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) remains a critical challenge for their practical deployment. Although approaches like reducing interfacial friction or contact duration can enhance durability, they often compromise electrical performance. The charge self-excitation method can improve the output performance. However, when it is introduced into the sliding mode with small capacitance change, it increases the complexity of the circuit and cannot solve the problem of charge attenuation caused by material wear. Herein, we propose a self-regulation strategy that concurrently controls the interface contact state and contact force. This approach synergistically combines the advantages of both sliding and contact-separation configurations, enabling the triboelectric materials to micro-slide and deform adaptively, ensuring stable dynamic interfacial contact under minimal normal pressure. Such a mechanism promotes strong electron cloud overlap at the microscale, thereby enhancing charge transfer efficiency. Compared to conventional TENGs, the self-regulating TENG achieves a 72.5-fold reduction in frictional force and a 13-fold increase in energy output. Furthermore, a wireless self-powered sensing system is integrated, achieving a power density of 242.4 mW/m 2 under real water flow conditions. The system maintains 97.6% of the initial output after 10 h of continuous operation, confirming the practical feasibility of the proposed approach. This work presents a universal method to enhance the electrical performance and durability of TENGs, paving the way for their broader application.

Abstract The quest to utilize intelligent tires has prompted substantial multidisciplinary research including vehicle dynamics, control, estimation, energy harvesting, and even nanotechnology. This review article presents the progress in the area of tire condition monitoring systems (TCMS) and intelligent tires using devices fabricated based on piezoelectric, electromagnetic, and triboelectric effects. Three main branches of the research in this area are presented, including estimation techniques, sensing, and energy harvesting approaches. The authors delineate the importance of TCMS for vehicle active safety systems, its importance for transportation safety, and also its remarkable economic and environmental impacts on the development of intelligent transportation systems. The historical evolution and the perspective of research in the area of intelligent tires and TCMS are also reviewed. In addition, it is discussed how nanogenerators would be effective on the future of intelligent tires.

Vertically aligned and site controllable ZnO nanowire arrays have been synthesized and replicated via hydrothermal method on general flexible substrates. The replication was demonstrated for three generations. The morphology and density of the nanowire arrays could be optimized in the original generation by adjusting the chemical reaction parameters. The pattern of the original generation was inherited by the succeeding generations by a new transferring method. The growth mechanism of the replicated nanowire arrays was investigated with the help of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching and AFM tip scanning. The robustness of the ZnO nanowire arrays was obviously improved compared with the seedless ZnO nanowires grown on Au (111) surface, according to the excellent morphology preservation after ultrasonic wave treatment.

The transport properties of GaN nanobelts (NBs) are tuned using a piezotronic effect when a compressive/tensile strain is applied on the GaN NB. This is mainly due to a change in Schottky barrier height (SBH). A theoretical model is proposed to explain the observed phenomenon.

Abstract Schottky and Ohmic contacts–based electronics play an important role in highly sensitive detection of biomolecules and neural electric impulses, respectively. The reversible conversion between these two contacts appears especially important for multifunctional sensing by just one biosensor. Here, Schottky barrier height (SBH) is successfully tuned by triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and the same device is made to achieve reversible conversion between Schottky contact and Ohmic contact. In the same Schottky to Ohmic reversible (SOR) biosensor, highly sensitive detections of biomolecule (i.e., neurotransmitter) and neural electric signal are achieved at different contact states. The SOR biosensor reveals the feasibility of using one device to realize multifunctional detection. This work proposes a simple and significant method to achieve reversible tuning between the Schottky contact and Ohmic contact on one device by TENG, which exhibits great potential in developing multifunctional and high‐sensitivity biosensors, rectifiers, and other functional electronic devices.

Regulating the ranking of polymer in triboelectric series over a wide range is of great help for material's selection of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). Herein, fluorinated poly(phthalazinone ether)s (FPPEs) with tunable molecular structure and aggregate structure are synthesized by co-polycondensation, while the large positive ranking shift in the triboelectric series can be achieved by introducing phthalazinone moieties with strong electron donating capability. FPPE-5, which includes abundant phthalazinone moieties, is more positive than all of the previously reported triboelectric polymers. Hence, the regulating range of FPPEs in this work updates a new record in triboelectric series, which is wider than that of previous works. A peculiar crystallization behavior, capable of trapping and storing more electrons, has been observed in FPPE-2 with 25% phthalazinone moieties. Correspondingly, FPPE-2 is more negative than FPPE-1 without a phthalazinone moiety, which is an unexpected shift against the common changing tendency in triboelectric series. With FPPEs films as the probing material, a tactile TENG sensor is applied to enable material identification via electrical signal polarity. Hence, this study demonstrates a strategy to regulate the series of triboelectric polymers by copolymerization using monomers with distinct electrification capabilities, where both the monomer ratio and the peculiar nonlinear behavior can control triboelectric performance.

We report the first cellular level study on the biocompatibility and biosafety of ZnO nanowires (NWs). Hela cell line showed a complete biocompatibility to ZnO nanostructures from low to high NW concentrations beyond a couple of production periods. The L929 cell line showed a good reproduction behavior at lower NW concentration, but when the concentration was close to 100 μg/ml, the viability dropped to ∼50%. Our study shows the biocompetability and biosafety of ZnO NWs when they are applied in biological applications at normal concentration range.