Self-Powered Humidity Sensor Driven by Triboelectric Nanogenerator Composed of Bio-Wasted Peanut Skin Powder

Abstract

The increasing number of IoT devices has led to more electronic waste production, which harms the environment and human health. Self-powered sensor systems are a solution, but they often use toxic materials. We propose using biocompatible peanut skin as the active material for a self-powered humidity sensor (PSP-SPHS) through integration with a peanut-skin-based triboelectric nanogenerator (PSP-TENG). The PSP-TENG was characterized electrically and showed promising results, including an open circuit voltage (162 V), short circuit current (0.2 µA), and instantaneous power (2.2 mW) at a loading resistance of 20 MΩ. Peanut skin is a great choice for the sensor due to its porous surface, large surface area, eco-friendliness, and affordability. PSP-TENG was further used as a power source for the PSP-humidity sensor. PSP-SPHS worked as a humidity-dependent resistor, whose resistance decreased with increasing relative humidity (%RH), which further resulted in decreasing voltage across the humidity sensor. This proposed PSP-SPHS exhibited a good sensitivity (0.8 V/RH%), fast response/recovery time (4/10 s), along with excellent stability and repeatability, making it a potential candidate for self-powered humidity sensor technology.

A Review of Plasma-Synthesized and Plasma Surface-Modified Piezoelectric Polymer Films for Nanogenerators and Sensors

“…Accordingly, it is important to develop sustainable and renewable nanogenerators (NGs) for energy harvesting [ 6 , 7 ]. These NGs, especially piezoelectric NGs (PENGs) and triboelectric NGs (TENGs), are promising candidates for self-powered electronics [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. These PENGs and TENGs change mechanical energy derived from human activities (such as pressure, bending, and stretching motions) into electrical energy [ 6 , 7 , 11 , 12 ].…”