Sustainable cellulose materials for self-powered wearable electronics: recent advances

Abstract

The proliferation of the internet of things and wearable technologies is accelerating the demand for sustainable, autonomous, and multifunctional self-powered systems. Mechanical conformability and wearer comfort are essential for the widespread adoption of wearable devices. As distributed energy-harvesting modalities, triboelectric and piezoelectric nanogenerators hold substantial potential for wearable sensing. With their inherent structural hierarchy, tunable surface chemistry, and excellent flexibility, cellulose-based materials offer a promising alternative to conventional synthetic polymers. This review summarizes recent advances in cellulose materials for self-powered wearable electronics, systematically analyzing the structural and functional characteristics of nanocellulose, lignocellulose, and plant-derived substrates when employed as energy-harvesting and sensing units. These strategies are designed to effectively enhance the dielectric properties, triboelectric output, and environmental stability of cellulose materials. Furthermore, representative device architectures and application examples are presented for self-powered health monitoring, human–machine interaction and electronic skin. Finally, the review synthesizes the outstanding challenges and outlines future research directions for cellulose-based self-powered wearable electronic devices.