Triboelectric-electromagnetic hybrid generator based self-powered flexible wireless sensing for food monitoring

Abstract

With the growing demand for food around the world, real-time monitoring is essential to ensure the quality and safety of food. However, traditional monitoring techniques necessitate an external power source, and untidy wiring systems make monitoring difficult. Here, we report a self-powered flexible wireless sensing system that is powered by a triboelectric-electromagnetic hybrid generator (TEHG) that obtains energy from the airflow when the refrigeration fan is running. The TEHG makes up for the shortcomings of the EMG and the TENG alone, and can still reach a saturation voltage above 8 V when working at a low frequency of 90 r/min, and the slowdown of charging speed only occurs in the high-voltage charging stage. At 600 r/min, the charging characteristics of the EMG alone and the compound generator were compared, and the saturation voltage of the compound charge increased by 33.3% compared with the EMG alone. Through the power management module, the TEHG is proven to power a commercial 500 mAh lithium battery, and it takes 25000 s from the initial state to the maximum voltage. The flexible wireless sensor (FWS) can be continuously powered by the lithium battery and transmit real-time data to a cloud platform, demonstrating the capabilities of the Internet of Things. In the long run, the TEHG-based FWS (TE-FS) will be a revolutionary step in the development of food quality monitoring systems.