Transparent flexible nanogenerator as self-powered sensor for transportation monitoring

In this paper, we fabricated transparent flexible nanogenerators (NGs) by employing flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate for the growth of ZnO nanowires. The fully packaged NG showed good transparency with a transmittance of 50–60% in the visible range. The output voltage and current was 8 V and 0.6 μA, respectively, corresponding to an output power density of ∼5.3 mW/cm3. The NG also showed excellent robustness and could stably scavenge energy from the motion of a vehicle. Based on this characteristic, we demonstrated its application as a self-powered sensor for monitoring vehicle speed and detecting vehicle weight.

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► Transparent flexible nanogenerators are fabricated using polydimethylsiloxane substrate for the growth of ZnO nanowires.
► High power output of the nanogenerator has been achieved.
► Nanogenerator shows excellent robustness and could stably scavenge energy from the motion of automobiles.
► A self-powered vehicle speed/weight sensor for transportation monitoring system is demonstrated.