Self-Powered Disinfection Using Triboelectric, Conductive Wires of Metal–Organic Frameworks

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Efficient water disinfection is vitally needed in rural and disaster-stricken areas lacking power supplies. However, conventional water disinfection methods strongly rely on external chemical input and reliable electricity. Herein, we present a self-powered water disinfection system using synergistic hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) assisted electroporation mechanisms driven by triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) that harvest electricity from the flow of water. The flow-driven TENG, assisted by power management systems, generates a controlled output with aimed voltages to drive a conductive metal–organic framework nanowire array for effective H 2 O 2 generation and electroporation. The injured bacteria caused by electroporation can be further damaged by facile diffused H 2 O 2 molecules at high throughput. A self-powered disinfection prototype enables complete disinfection (>99.9999% removal) over a wide range of flows up to 3.0 × 10 4 L/(m 2 h) with low water flow thresholds (200 mL/min; ∼20 rpm). This rapid, self-powered water disinfection method is promising for pathogen control.