Green plant-based triboelectricity system for green energy harvesting and contact warning

As people pay more and more attention to environmental protection, the selection of materials and preparation methods of triboelectric nanogenerators in the manufacturing process are particularly critical to whether triboelectric nanogenerator is environmentally friendly. However, the friction layers of traditional triboelectric nanogenerators are mostly polymers, which are not cost-effective and biodegradable. Herein, an all green triboelectricity energy harvesting system is designed basing on live plants in nature to realize the collection of dissipative energy in the environment of wind energy, rain energy, and various mechanical movement energies. The stem and the soil are used to transfer electrons, which is very environment friendly and has never been reported in triboelectricity system before. The green plant-based triboelectric generator can reach the maximum output performance of 4.6 mu A and 35.3 V, respectively, when touched by hand with polytetrafluoroethylene glove. The green triboelectric system is also designed as a contact alert sensor for danger warning. Due to the huge number of plants in nature, the green leaf and plants based triboelectric generators shows great application prospects in all green energy harvesting and self-powered warning sensor.