A Stretchable Hydrophobic Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Wearable Self-Powered Biomotion Monitoring and Sign Language Interpretation

Herein, a highly sensitive stretchable hydrophobic triboelectric nanogenerator (SH-TENG) based on MWCNT-coated-functionalized hybrid porous carbon@Silicone(MFHPC@Silicone) nanocomposite is newly developed for wearable self-powered biomotion monitoring and sign language recognition applications. Unlike conventional TENGs, the proposed design integrates nanoporosity-induced charge trapping with an MWCNT-based hydrophobic coating, simultaneously enhancing dielectric properties, electronegativity, and ion transport. This dual strategy enables the formation of localized microcapacitors, resulting in 5.6 times performance improvement over unmodified Silicone. The fabricated SH-TENG exhibited a power density of 1.4 W/m2, sensitivity of 2.41 V/kPa, and stretchability up to 400% strain. The SH-TENG also showed reliable biomotion monitoring, responding sensitively to finger, wrist, and ankle bending, and enables high-precision sign language recognition by tracing finger gestures into electrical signals.