Monitoring the quality of perishable food in real time is critically important in reducing the loss of food and the risk of foodborne diseases. Conventional approaches for the assessment of food quality rely on external wired power supplies, and expensive and complicated instrumentation that cannot provide convenient monitoring, increasing risks and cost. Here, a conductive wood-based triboelectric nanogenerator (CW-TENG) for the self-powered sensing and assessment of food quality in a cold-supply chain is developed. Based on a simple strategy, natural wood can be converted into a conductive triboelectric material with excellent ammonia sensing properties. A self-powered ammonia sensor is further developed to perform real-time monitoring of food quality. This work not only expands the application area of the triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) to the assessment of food quality, but also promotes the development of self-powered systems in food industry.

Triboelectric nanogenerator; Gas sensor; Food quality assessment