A transient triboelectric nanogenerator with optical feedback

We report a transient triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with optical feedback that integrates the features of enhanced harvesting of biomechanical energy, biodegradability, and real-time monitoring of degradation behaviors. Naturally extracted silk fibroin proteins — which are biocompatible and biodegradable — are used as the frictional layer material in a sandwich-shaped TENG. By patterning the reflective grating nanostructures onto silk frictional layers, the energy conversion efficiency is improved due to the increased effective frictional area, and the device degradation can be monitored by monitoring the variation of the optical diffraction intensity. This work shines new light on the development of implantable and degradable energy harvesting devices with simultaneous optical feedback for degradation monitoring.