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Human-centric triboelectric nanogenerators for self-powered sensing, exercise technologies, and intelligent
Sz-Nian Lai1, Hsun-Yen Lin1, Yu-Hsiang Wang1
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, 101, Section 2 Kuang Fu Road, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan. wujm@mx.nthu.edu.tw.
Nanoscale
|August 7, 2026
Summary
Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are evolving into self-powered sensors for human-centric applications. This review covers materials, manufacturing, and AI integration for smart systems in IoT, sports, and robotics.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Energy Harvesting
- Sensor Technology
Background:
- Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have advanced beyond energy harvesting to become sophisticated self-powered sensing platforms.
- They leverage ubiquitous mechanical interactions to extract detailed information, enabling human-centric applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide a system-level review of recent advancements in TENGs.
- To connect materials design, scalable manufacturing, and intelligent human-oriented applications.
- To outline challenges and opportunities for future self-powered sensing systems.
Main Methods:
- Review of progress in materials and interface engineering for TENGs.
- Discussion of large-scale manufacturing, modular architectures, and packaging strategies.
- Highlighting applications in exercise technologies, robotics, and human-machine interfaces (HMI).
Main Results:
- Materials engineering enhances charge density, robustness, and stability.
- Scalable manufacturing and modular designs improve product reliability.
- AI integration transforms TENG signals into actionable perception and control.
Conclusions:
- TENGs are key to next-generation IoT, smart exercise analytics, and interactive robotics.
- Integrating sensing, data, and intelligence around human activity is crucial.
- Standardized, scalable, and intelligent self-powered sensing systems present significant future opportunities.
