Human skin, the body’s largest organ, plays a crucial role in perceiving mechanical stimulation and facilitating interaction with the external environment. Leveraging the unique attributes of human skin, electronic skin technology aimed at replicating and surpassing the capabilities of natural skin holds significant promise across various domains, including medical care, motion tracking, and intelligent robotics. In recent research, triboelectric nanogenerators have emerged as a compelling solution for addressing the energy challenge in electronic skins. Triboelectric nanogenerators harness the combination of the triboelectric effect and electrostatic induction to efficiently convert mechanical energy into electrical power, serving as self-powered sensors for electronic skins, which possess the advantages of self-powered operation, cost-effectiveness, and compatibility with a wide range of materials. This review provides an introduction to the working principles and the four operational modes of triboelectric nanogenerators, highlighting the functional features of electronic skins, such as stretchability, self-healing, and degradability. The primary focus is on the current applications of self-powered electronic skins based on triboelectric nanogenerators in medical care, motion tracking, and machine tactile recognition. This review concludes by discussing the anticipated challenges in the future development of self-powered electronic skins based on triboelectric nanogenerators. This review holds practical significance for advancing the practical use of self-powered electronic skins based on triboelectric nanogenerators and offers valuable guidance for individuals interested in pursuing scientific and healthy endeavors.

The advent of self-powered arrays of tribological nanogenerators (TENGs) that harvest mechanical energy for data collection has ushered in a promising avenue for human motion monitoring. This emerging trend is poised to shape the future landscape of biomechanical study. However, when we try to monitor various regions of the foot across disparate environments simultaneously, it poses a number of problems, such as the lack of satisfactory waterproofing, suboptimal heat resistance, inaccurate monitoring capacity, and the inability to transmit data wirelessly. To overcome these issues, we have developed an array of sensors affixed to the insole’s surface to adeptly monitor movement gait patterns and alert users to falls using self-powered triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). Each sensor cell on this sensor works as an individual air gap TENG (FWF-TENG), namely flexible, waterproof, and fast response, composed of an Ecoflex single-electrode array. Each FWF-TENG boasts a fast response time of 28 ms, which is sufficient to quickly monitor pressure changes during various badminton activities. Importantly, these sensors can persistently generate electrical signals at 70%RH humidity. Data obtained from these sensors can be transmitted to an upper computer intelligent terminal wirelessly through multi-grouped FHW-ENG sensing terminals in real time to achieve human–computer interaction applications, including motion technical determinations, feedback, and fall alerts. As a result, the interconnected TENG arrays have broad potential applications, including gait rehabilitation monitoring, motion technique identification, and fall alarm applications.

The development of self-powered smart biosensors has attracted great attention due to their potential applications in human motion monitoring and energy collection systems. Here, a newly designed triboelectric nanogenerator (PSP-TENG) composed of the PU sponge, polytetrafluoroethylene, and polydimethylsiloxane for monitoring rear leg rotation motion in artistic gymnastics has been developed. The PSP-TENG can monitor the buffering and stretching time of rear leg rotation and identify the angle between the hip, knee, and ankle during the stretching stage. Furthermore, the PSP-TENG has the function of converting measured signals into power signals, which can convert collected human motion mechanical energy into electrical energy to power wearable devices. The development of PSP-TENG has made contributions to the field of human motion monitoring, providing ideas for new energy and technologies to improve the environment and promote a virtuous ecological cycle.

Anxiety impacts both physical and mental health, yet it can be alleviated through exercise. This study aimed to investigate the effects of mindfulness-based aerobic dance on policewomen’s anxiety and compare them with those of traditional aerobic dance. A repeated-measures experimental design was employed to assess the effects of mindfulness-based aerobic dance and traditional aerobic dance on policewomen’s anxiety. In the mindfulness-based aerobic dance group, the scores of “SAI”, “TAI”, “Cognitive reappraisal” and “Expressive suppression” showed statistical significance (p <0.05) after 8 weeks of exercise. After 12 weeks of exercise, these scores were significantly lower than the baseline values. In the traditional aerobic dance group, the “Cognitive reappraisal” showed statistical significance (p = 0.041) after 8 weeks of exercise, and the “SAI”, “TAI” and “Expressive suppression” showed statistical significance (p <0.05) after 12 weeks of exercise. Both mindfulness-based aerobic dance and traditional aerobic dance can alleviate the anxiety of policewomen. However, the mindfulness-based aerobic dance is more rapid and effective in this regard.