A Self-Powered Microbial Inactivation and Nanoparticle Removal Ultrathin Gelatin Multilayer Triboelectric Nanogenerators

Internet of Things technologies significantly improve the quality of life by utilizing wearable electronics. Among mechanical energy harvesting technologies, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), which utilize the coupling effects of triboelectrification and electrostatic induction between two contact surfaces, have been considered a novel miniaturized mechanical energy scavenger that generates electricity. However, in most TENGs, synthetic polymers dominated triboelectric materials (TMs) fabrication. Therefore, this study fabricated ultrathin, biodegradable, and biocompatible gelatin (GE) multilayer-based TENG via an eco-friendly layer-by-layer self-assembly method. The electrostatic self-assembly of one species was realized using its dependence on the solution pH.<b> </b>GE is suitable owing to its film-forming abilities, abundance, pyrrolidine electron donor-rich groups, and tunable properties, significantly enhancing the TENG outputs and enabling extended layered growth. The electrical properties and device performance of self-assembled GE multilayer (ML)-TENG were identified by manipulating the pH of the GE medium from 4 to 7. At pH 5, 110 nm-thick of the 3 adsorbed cycles of GE ML-TENG exhibited the highest output power density of 15.9 W m^-2, owing to its highest surface potential of 208 mV. We successfully exhibited the self-powered GE ML-TENG-driven electrophoretic device for removing SiO₂ and ZnO nanoparticles in water. Furthermore, integrating GE multilayer-TENG as electric stimulation of antibacterial devices is a promising approach and exhibited a significant inhibitory effect on gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) and gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus strains. We also demonstrated the harmony of the vertical axis wind turbine GE free-standing film TENG electricity. The graphene-based filtration system worked simultaneously to attain approximately 100% E. coli inhibition efficiency without an external power supply for the water disinfection system. Therefore, this eco-friendly multifunctional GE-based material can be a promising candidate for high-performance self-driven Electrical stimulation nanogenerators.