An Environmentally Friendly Reusable Triboelectric Nanogenerator Based on Instant Noodle Powder

Recently, paper-based triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have been attracting increasing attention. This interest is driven by desirable features such as affordability, environmental efficiency, and sustainable energy harvesting. This study investigated instant noodles powder as a novel and innovative triboelectric material for constructing a TENG (INPP-TENG). Triboelectric pairs were developed using instant noodles powder and PTFE tape, and paper served as the material of the supportive structure. The open circuit voltage (Voc) was 576 V, and the output power density was 326.7 μW/cm 2. The proposed TENG can be used to assess the relative humidity (RH) of the environment. The renewable utilization and quality of the proposed TENG were also investigated. A device with the dimensions of 4 cm × 6 cm generated an electrical output that could directly power 185 blue high-power LEDs. Moreover, the structure of an innovative Miura-folding-paper-based TENG is presented. In addition to harvesting mechanical energy from human activities, the proposed design also detects different touch states. This paper proposes a portable, light-weight, affordable, and multifunctional device for humidity detection and energy harvesting.