Recycled Polystyrene Waste to Triboelectric Nanogenerators: Volumetric Electromechanically Responsive Laminates from Same‐Material Contact Electrification

Recycled Polymers Polystyrene packing foam ends up in landfill en masse. In article number 2300259, Andris Šutka, Peter C. Sherrell, and co-workers have developed a recycling process which introduces mechanical-to-electrical conversion functionality into polystyrene. The process creates fibrous 'laminates' with internal triboelectrification. These laminates show equivalent performance to state-of-the-art piezoelectric materials, paving the way for upcycling of waste polymers into energy harvesters, sensors, and functional systems and devices.