All-in-one, flexible, diversified self-powered sensors through embedded 3D printing

Triboelectric nanogenerators are characterized by zero power consumption and are often employed as self-powered sensors. However, the complex manufacturing process and expensive equipment limit the further promotion and application of self-powered sensors, which have become urgent challenges in this field. Here, a simple strategy using embedded three-dimensional (EMB 3D) printing is proposed to enable the fabrication of diverse self-powered sensors in one-step, reducing production costs while increasing design flexibility. Specifically, the designed sensors composed of the silicone as the triboelectric layer and silicone/multi-walled carbon nanotubes as flexible electrodes with excellent all-in-one structures. Meanwhile, diversified self-powered sensors with different complex structures (e.g. planar array sensors and gyroid-structures sensors) were developed to meet the diverse needs of different applications, verifying the capability of the proposed embedded 3D printing method to design and customize sensors with various shapes and structures. In addition, the applications of these functionalized self-powered sensors in cryptographic simulation, pressure position detection, and impact force recognition have been successfully demonstrated. Therefore, this self-powered sensor based on EMB 3D printing has a promising future in human-computer interaction, collision detection and other fields.