UV-Protective, Self-Cleaning, and Antibacterial Nanofiber-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Self-Powered Human Motion Monitoring

Equipping wearable electronics with special functions will endow them with more additional values and more comprehensive practical performance. Here, we report an ultraviolet (UV)-protective, self-cleaning, antibacterial, and self-powered all-nanofiber-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) for mechanical energy harvesting and self-powered sensing, which is fabricated with Ag nanowires (NWs)/TPU nanofibers and the TiO₂@PAN networks through a facile electrospinning method. Due to the added TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs), the TENG presents excellent UV-protective performance, including the ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) of ∼204, the transmittance of UVA (TUVA) of ∼0.0574%, and the transmittance of UVB (TUVB) ∼0.107%. Furthermore, under solar lighting for 25 min, most surface contamination can be degraded, and the decreased power output would be recovered. Owing to the coupled effects of TiO₂ NPs and Ag NWs, the TENG shows excellent antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. Due to the micro-to-nano hierarchical porous structure, the all-nanofiber-based TENG can serve as self-powered pedometers for detecting and tracking human motion behaviors. As a multifunctional self-powered device, the TENG prompts various applications in the fields of micro/nanopower sources, human movement monitoring, and human-machine interfaces, potentially providing an alternative energy solution and a multifunctional interactive platform for the next-generation wearable electronics.