Self-Powered Multifunctional Motion Sensor Enabled by Magnetic-Regulated Triboelectric Nanogenerator

With the fast development of the Internet of Things, the requirements of system miniaturization and integration have accelerated research on multifunctional sensors. Based on the triboelectric nanogenerator, a self-powered multifunctional motion sensor (MFMS) is proposed in this work, which is capable of detecting the motion parameters, including direction, speed, and acceleration of linear and rotary motions, simultaneously. The MFMS consists of a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) module, a magnetic regulation module, and an acrylic shell. The TENG module is formed by placing a free-standing magnetic disk (MD) on a polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) plate with six copper electrodes. The movement of the MFMS causes the MD to slide on the PTFE plate and hence excites the electrodes to produce a voltage output. The carefully designed six copper electrodes (an inner circle electrode, an outer circle electrode, and four arc electrodes between them) can distinguish eight directions of movement with the acceleration and determine the rotational speed and direction as well. Besides, the magnetic regulation module is applied here by fixing a magnetic cylinder (MC) in the shell, right under the center of the PTFE plate. Due to the magnetic attraction applied by the MC, the MD will automatically return to the center to prepare for the next round of detection, which makes the proposed sensor much more applicable in practice.