Self-Powered Humidity Sensor Driven by Triboelectric Nanogenerator Composed of Bio-Wasted Peanut Skin Powder
Muhammad Saqib, Shenawar Ali Khan, Maryam Khan, Shahzad Iqbal, Muhammad Muqeet Rehman, Woo Young Kim
Abstract
The increasing number of IoT devices has led to more electronic waste production, which harms the environment and human health. Self-powered sensor systems are a solution, but they often use toxic materials. We propose using biocompatible peanut skin as the active material for a self-powered humidity sensor (PSP-SPHS) through integration with a peanut-skin-based triboelectric nanogenerator (PSP-TENG). The PSP-TENG was characterized electrically and showed promising results, including an open circuit voltage (162 V), short circuit current (0.2 µA), and instantaneous power (2.2 mW) at a loading resistance of 20 MΩ. Peanut skin is a great choice for the sensor due to its porous surface, large surface area, eco-friendliness, and affordability. PSP-TENG was further used as a power source for the PSP-humidity sensor. PSP-SPHS worked as a humidity-dependent resistor, whose resistance decreased with increasing relative humidity (%RH), which further resulted in decreasing voltage across the humidity sensor. This proposed PSP-SPHS exhibited a good sensitivity (0.8 V/RH%), fast response/recovery time (4/10 s), along with excellent stability and repeatability, making it a potential candidate for self-powered humidity sensor technology.