Energy harvesting from the ambient environment can be a beneficial and promising source for powering micro- and nanodevices. Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) technology has been proved to be a simple and cost-effective method to harness ambient mechanical energy. The performance of the TENG device mainly depends on the careful selection of the material pair. So far, metals and polymer materials have dominated TENG technology. Recently, there have been few reports on metal–organic framework (MoF)-based TENGs. MoFs are very interesting and offer excellent chemical and thermal stability, besides their unique properties, such as tunable pore size and high surface area. Herein, we report a zeolitic imidazole framework (ZIF-67)-based TENG device for self-powered device applications. We used ZIF-67 as one tribolayer, and PET and PMMA as opposite tribolayers. The output performance of the TENG device fabricated with the PMMA/ZIF-67 pair showed values of 300 V, 47.5 µA, and 593 mW/m² of open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, and power density, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, these are the highest reported values so far for ZIF-67-based TENG devices. The fabricated TENG device lit up 250 LEDs and was employed to explore different self-powered device applications.

The increasing food packaging waste is a severe concern for air, water, and soil pollution. In this research work, a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is fabricated using waste food packaging Aluminium cover foils and laboratory parafilm for the first time. The device novelty lies in the selection of the materials; parafilm and food packing Aluminium cover foils. The proposed TENG produced an output voltage and instantaneous power density of ∼4 V and 11.8 nW cm ⁻² , respectively, by hand excitation force. Further, TENG can easily power up 85 commercial light-emitting diodes, digital watch, thermometer, and calculator with the help of charged capacitor. The proposed TENG demonstrated the ease of process, simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and reduction of pollution. Further, this TENG performance can be improved with other triboelectric materials and applied in self-powered portable electronic device applications.