Fully Wireless and Self-Powered Ocean Wave Observation System Empowered by the Friction-Driven Polymer Network Liquid Crystal-Based Smart Reflector.

Current ocean wave observation is achieved by separate battery-powered sensing and signal transmission modules. Owing to the limited electrical supply and information channel space, the long-time span observation is restricted and only wave height and period information rather than the whole wave profile are sent back to the receiver. In this work, a self-powered ocean wave observation system was achieved by a developed polymer network liquid crystal (PNLC)-based smart reflector powered by a tailored triboelectric nanogenerator embedded with one-way overrunning clutches.