A self-powered sterilization system with both instant and sustainable anti-bacterial ability

A self-powered and high-efficient water sterilization system was set up consisting of a wave-driven triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and two nanobrush electrodes made of Ag-nanoparticles integrated ZnO-nanowires. The system showed both instant and sustainable sterilization efficiency for various microbes including those in natural river water. The colony forming units (CFU) were reduced from 106/mL to 0 within 0.5 min of electrical field (EF) treatment for Gram-negative bacteria. In addition, the bacteria annihilation ability was sustained for at least 20 min after withdrawing the EF. The mechanism lay in the synergetic work of electricity and the Ag/ZnO nanomaterial, which not only produced electroporation during EF treatment, but also induced sustained intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) to do additional sterilization when EF was withdrawn.