Recent progress of triboelectric nanogenerators as self-powered sensors in transportation engineering

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) have rapidly advanced in self-powered sensing in transportation engineering owing to its great sensitivity, high energy harvesting performance, simple structures, and low cost. TENG can be used to improve walker and car safety, detect driver fatigue, assess traffic conditions, and extend the useful life of roads. However, collecting sufficient energy have become a significant issue, limiting the lifespan of such self-powered sensors. A new generation of self-powered sensors bridges the gap between the energy acquired and the energy needed for sensing, computing, storage, and transmission. This article provides an overview of the recent progress of TENG applications, followed by the discussion of potential research areas and future plans for self-powered sensors in the field of transportation engineering (covering motorized and non-motorized systems and condition assessment). Finally, the benefits of using these sensors are discussed, along with upcoming research trends and challenges for their creative use.