Flexible Loofah Fiber and Face Mask-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Motion Sensing and Smart Home Applications

Abstract

The growing demand for sustainable energy harvesting technologies necessitates the development of eco-friendly and low-cost triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) derived from renewable and waste resources. Herein, we report on the fabrication of TENG by integrating a naturally derived loofah sponge fiber with recycled polypropylene (PP) obtained from discarded face mask, establishing a synergistic platform for both energy harvesting and sensing. The alkali-modified loofah sponge (MLS) fiber acts as an efficient positive triboelectric layer owing to its cellulose rich composition and hierarchically porous structure, which significantly enhances effective contact area, and improves triboelectric properties. The recycled mask-derived PP serves as a negative triboelectric layer, enabling efficient electron transfer and stable device operation. The resulting MLS-TENG delivers a voltage of 186.3 V, a current of 2.8 μA, and power density of 1.1 W/m². Excellent mechanical durability is demonstrated with negligible performance degradation over 10000 contact-separation cycles. Furthermore, practical applicability of the MLS-TENG device is demonstrated through a smart home control system, where multiple TENG units are integrated with a microcontroller to achieve touch-controlled ON/OFF switching of household lighting. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a smart home-oriented TENG system constructed entirely from waste-recyclable and natural materials, highlighting a scalable pathway for next-generation smart electronics.

Keywords

Smart home / Modified loofah sponge fiber / Recycled mask / Human motion sensing / Flexible electronics / Triboelectric nanogenerators

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Funding

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Brain Pool Program (RS-2024-00447409) and the Core Program (RS-2026-25483852) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning.

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Donghua University, Shanghai, China