Breathable Nanogenerators for an On-Plant Self-Powered Sustainable Agriculture System

Abstract

Building an intelligent interface between plants and the environment is of paramount importance for real-time monitoring of the health status of plants, especially promising for high agricultural yield. Although the advancement of various sensors allows automated monitoring, developing a sustainable power supply for these electronic devices remains a formidable challenge. Herein, a waterproof and breathable triboelectric nanogenerator (WB-TENG) is designed based on poly­(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) nanofibers embedded with fluorinated carbon nanotubes (F-CNT) microspheres, which was realized by simultaneous electrospinning and electrospraying, respectively. Using carbon nanotubes (CNT) as the electrode, the WB-TENG shows micro-to-nano hierarchical porous structures and high electrostatic adhesion, exhibiting a high output power density of 330.6 μW cm–2, breathability, and hydrophobicity. Besides, the WB-TENG can be conformally self-attached to plant leaves without sacrificing the intrinsic physiological activities of plants, capable of harvesting typical environmental energy from wind and raindrops. Results demonstrate that the WB-TENG can serve as a sustainable power supply for a wireless plant sensor, enabling real-time monitoring of the health status of plants. This work realizes the concept of constructing a plant compatible TENG with environment adaptivity and energy scavenging ability, showing great potential in building a self-powered agriculture system.

Cellulose for Sustainable Triboelectric Nanogenerators

“…Reproduced with permission. [ 213 ] Copyright 2021, American Chemical Society. c) TENG designed as artificial leaf integrated with the tree.…”

“…Therefore, Lan and Xiong et al described a waterproof and breathable fiber‐based TENG (WB‐TENG) to establish an intelligent interface between plants and the environment for real‐time monitoring of plant health and harvesting natural energy (Figure 12b). [ 213 ] By means of the electrospinning and electrospraying method, a composite layer‐structured PVDF fiber film with adjustable components and morphology was produced; the hydrophobic functional components of fluorinated CNT could be combined between the nanofibers, but it also boosted the roughness. In addition to good environmental adaptability of the TENG, the key was that it can self‐attach on the plant and not affect the health of the plant; stable output performance was proved when the WB‐TENG adhered to the plant for 55 days.…”

Flexible Wearables for Plants

“…Lan et al. [ 172 ] designed a waterproof and breathable TENG (WB‐TENG). It has not only pleasurable mechanical compliance but also high electrostatic adhesion, which can realize the adhesion to plant leaves and convert wind and rain droplets in the environment into electric energy.…”

Structural and Electrical Dynamics of a Grating-Patterned Triboelectric Energy Harvester with Stick-Slip Oscillation and Magnetic Bistability

“…Additionally, TEHs can also be integrated with many other sensors, such as the wind speed detection sensor [14], the inertial motion sensor [15], the pressure mapping sensor [16], human motion monitoring sensor [17]. Recently, a waterproof and breathable TEH was developed to drive a multifunctional plant sensor and transmit data remotely, which was attached to plant leaves conformally for harvesting energy from wind and raindrops [18]. Apparently, triboelectric energy harvesting has broad application prospects with distinct merits in energy harvesting.…”