An eco-friendly, sodium alginate degradable conformal triboelectric nanogenerator for self-powered sensing and real-time injury monitoring

Abstract

Sodium alginate (SA) is a natural polysaccharide extracted from the kelp or sargassum of brown algae that has been attracting the attention of researchers for its non-toxicity, water-solubility, biocompatibility and degradability. Based on the unique properties of sodium alginate, a conformal triboelectric nanogenerator (SG-TENG) has been successfully fabricated in this study, which can realize self-powered sensing and real-time injury monitoring. By adding a certain proportion of glycerol as a plasticizer to the sodium alginate solution, the flexibility and adhesion of the sodium alginate film are improved to facilitate the generation of triboelectric charges. The SG-TENG exhibits excellent electrical output performance with an open-circuit voltage of 49 V, a peak power of 108.8 μW and a fast response time of 86 ms, which can be sufficient powered small electronic devices. More importantly, the application of SG-TENG for knee injury monitoring not only realizes the real-time tracking of knee joint movement status but also provides early warning of potential injuries. Combined with advanced narrow neural network technology for in-depth analysis of knee motion data, the accuracy of sensing signal recognition reached 97.96 %. It provides valuable data support for the treatment and rehabilitation of knee osteoarthritis, which can help enhance the therapeutic effect and improve the quality of life of patients' lives. This study not only provides new ideas for the development of degradable and eco-friendly TENG based on marine plants, but also demonstrates a great potential of SG-TENG in the field of real-time monitoring of human injuries, which opens up a new path for future health monitoring technology.