A strong, biodegradable, and recyclable all-lignocellulose fabricated triboelectric nanogenerator for self-powered disposable medical monitoring

The growing demand for fast, reliable, and accessible information in the vastly connected world makes disposable sensors increasingly important. However, reducing their costs, environmental impact, and usability remains challenging. Here, we report a low-cost, biodegradable, and recyclable all-lignocellulosic triboelectric nanogenerator (AL-TENG) for self-powered disposable medical monitoring. Based on a facile in situ lignin regeneration & chemical crosslinking modification strategy, a high-performance lignocellulosic bioplastic is synthesized from resource-abundant and renewable biomass for fabricating the AL-TENG. The whole device has a low environmental impact as it can be easily recycled and biodegraded at its end-of-life. Furthermore, a self-powered smart ward system and a self-powered contactless medical monitoring system are developed to improve the convenience for patients and reduce the risk of mutual infection. This work can expand the application of self-powered systems to disposable medical sensing, which may greatly promote the development of intelligent wards and disposable electronics.