A Fully Self-Powered Ocean Wave Observation System Empowered by Natural Light Modulated by a Friction-Driven Polymer Network Liquid Crystal

Conventional ocean wave observation instruments are powered by batteries, limiting the continuous observation time. Besides, the waste of batteries brings environmental contaminations. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) can reveal ocean wave information through their electrical output, taking the triboelectric charge as the information carrier. However, charge amplification is necessary, consuming additional energy. Herein, taking the photons rather than electrons as the information carrier, we developed a fully self-powered natural light-enabled sensing system for ocean wave monitoring by coupling two rotary-freestanding sliding TENGs (RFS-TENGs) and a polymer network liquid crystal (PNLC)-triggered optical system. The natural light is modulated by the PNLC driven by ocean wave-induced friction. With the assistance of a one-way bearing, the rise and fall of the wave will trigger different RFS-TENGs to power the PNLC in different voltage drops, leading to different transmitted natural light intensities. The wave height information can be obtained through the number of pulse signals with the same trough light intensity, while the wave period can be obtained through the duration between the same two sets of pulse signals. The effectiveness of the developed sensing paradigm in practical applications was verified by flume-based experiments, with the highest accuracies of 90.7% in wave height and 99.8% in wave period.