A self-powered wearable piezoelectric nanogenerator for physiological monitoring based on lead zirconate titanate/microfibrillated cellulose@polyvinyl alcohol (PZT/MFC@PVA) composition

High flexibility, good mechanical strength, and high sensitivity are the most important factors in developing wearable devices for real-time physiological monitoring. Here, a self-powered piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENG) based on the composite films made from lead zirconate titanate, microfibrillated cellulose and polyvinyl alcohol (PZT/[email protected]) via melt copolymerization method was proposed. Specifically, MFC promoted PVA crystallization when the defects and cracks inside the MFC were filled by PVA, by which the output performance of the proposed PENG was improved. The results showed that a maximum output open-voltage (VOC) of 16.5 V and a maximum output short-current (ISC) of 0.86 μA were obtained, the sensitivity of PENG was 0.3168 V·kPa−1. Based on the PENG's, sensitivity and excellent mechanical properties, it could detect facial activity and chest respiratory in real time, and continuously output pressure waveform. Weak physiological signal below 0.5 kPa could be detected, and the response time was 54 ms, this showed that it had broad application prospects in medical detection and clinical diagnosis.