title: A universal self-charging system driven by random biomechanical energy for sustainable operation of mobile electronics.
abstract: Human biomechanical energy is characterized by fluctuating amplitudes and variable low frequency, and an effective utilization of such energy cannot be achieved by classical energy-harvesting technologies. Here we report a high-efficient self-charging power system for sustainable operation of mobile electronics exploiting exclusively human biomechanical energy, which consists of a high-output triboelectric nanogenerator, a power management circuit to convert the random a.c. energy to d.c. electricity at 60% efficiency, and an energy storage device. With palm tapping as the only energy source, this power unit provides a continuous d.c. electricity of 1.044 mW (7.34 W m(-3)) in a regulated and managed manner. This self-charging unit can be universally applied as a standard 'infinite-lifetime' power source for continuously driving numerous conventional electronics, such as thermometers, electrocardiograph system, pedometers, wearable watches, scientific calculators and wireless radio-frequency communication system, which indicates the immediate and broad applications in personal sensor systems and internet of things.
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
authors.forename: Simiao
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1973-2204
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.|Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
authors.forename: Yu Sheng
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.|Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Zhong Lin
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D055590:Electromagnetic Phenomena; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing; D036103:Nanotechnology; D012420:Running; D016138:Walking