Bioinspired Cicada Wing Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Human Motion Monitoring and Mechanical Energy Harvesting

The rapid development of portable electronic devices has created an increasingly urgent demand for flexible and portable power sources. The triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) represents a promising technology for micro-energy harvesting, capable of efficiently converting mechanical energy from the environment into electricity. However, its output performance as a local power source is limited by insufficient contact efficiency and low charge density at triboelectric interfaces. Inspired by the nanocone array structure found on cicada wings, this study proposes a synergistic enhancement strategy that combines bioinspired cicada wing microstructures with corona discharge treatment, leading to the development of a high-performance bioinspired cicada wing TENG (BCW-TENG). Using lithography and template replication processes, micro-nano structures were fabricated on the PDMS surface, significantly increasing the effective contact area of the device and raising the open-circuit voltage by approximately 131% compared to a flat reference device. With further surface charge injection via corona discharge, the output performance was enhanced by another ∼165%, achieving an open-circuit voltage of 70 V and a peak power density of 57.38 mW/m2. By optimizing the power management circuit, the single-cycle energy storage efficiency was improved by a factor of 81. When employed as a sensor, the TENG successfully monitors various human motion postures and demonstrates the capability to power 44 LEDs in an array, a commercial thermo-hygrometer, a stopwatch, and a flexible pressure sensor. This study not only provides an effective synergistic strategy for enhancing TENG performance but also demonstrates its application potential in mechanical energy harvesting and motion monitoring.