Portable tribo-electric nano-generators (TENGS) for miniaturized sensors

Miniaturized sensors or portable micro-instruments that can be used for measurements <i>on-site</i> (i.e., in the field) are essential, for instance, for IoT (Internet of Things) applications, for Industry 4.0/Industry 5.0 applications, and (for chemical analysis applications) for “bringing part of the lab to the sample” (e.g., for making measurements in the field). Ideally, devices or systems (e.g., sensors or instruments) must be operated in the field from energy harvested from the ambient (e.g., solar or wind instead of using a battery). One example of energy harvesting is by employing Tribo Electric Nano Generators (TENGs). In my lab and for the last several years, we have been working on TENGS for energy harvesting applications. In this paper, continued work and further developments TENGS will be described here.