A paradigm-shift self-powered optical sensing system enabled by the rotation driven instantaneous discharging triboelectric nanogenerator (RDID-TENG)

Simultaneously achieving laser sensing and communication in a self-powered and wireless manner benefits a great variety of applications especially for the places with limited electrical supply, such as inhabited islands, etc. Regarded as a promising technology, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) harvest mechanical energies with the environmental motion information revealed. However, until now, few TENG-triggered laser sensing and communication systems have been reported since the current required by the laser is several number orders higher than that of TENGs featuring high impedance and low current. This work reports a revolutionary paradigm using the tailored TENG to drive a laser to achieve environmental sensing and wireless communication in the meanwhile. Unlike conventional TENGs transporting the charge continuously during the friction, the developed rotation driven instantaneous discharging TENG (RDID-TENG) releases the whole accumulated charge by the triboelectric layer in extremely short time (i.e. lower than 500 μs), yielding a periodic and ultrahigh instantaneous current, which is 1000 times higher than that of regular rotational TENGs, making it an excellent pulsed electrical power source to drive the laser. The mechanical to electrical to optical signal conversion was achieved employing such a self-powered sensing system, where both rotational speed and medium contamination information can be extracted from the optical signal. This study proposes a new strategy to regulate the charge transportation of TENGs showing its effectiveness in demonstrated environmental online monitoring.