Advances in Nanogenerators and Self-Powered Sensors

Dear Colleagues,

Nanogenerators and self-powered sensors are important because they reduce energy consumption in electronic devices by minimizing reliance on batteries and external power sources. Nanogenerators harvest ambient energy and convert it into usable electrical power, enabling sensors to operate continuously or intermittently without frequent charging or replacement, lowering downtime and maintenance costs. Concurrently, self-powered sensors also improve efficiency by minimizing standby power needs and enabling smart, event-driven data collection. As a result, they help create greener systems with longer lifetimes, making them ideal for low-power monitoring in fields such as healthcare, industrial maintenance, and environmental sensing.

This Topic brings together cutting-edge advances in energy harvesting, low-power sensing, and power management and storage for autonomous systems. We welcome contributions that review pivotal milestones, share breakthrough research, and propose future directions, including hybrid energy harvesters, AI-driven optimization, and how these advances can support a sustainable, connected world.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Triboelectric and piezoelectric nanogenerators
• Thermoelectric generators
• Hybrid energy harvesting
• Functional materials for energy conversion
• Self-powered sensors
• Flexible and stretchable sensors and devices
• Wearable and implantable devices
• AI for material and sensor optimization
• Energy storage and power management systems

Dr. Renyun Zhang
Dr. Christos Tsamis
Prof. Dr. Wei Tang
Topic Editors