Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) that convert the energy from simple body movement into electricity could charge smart watches and wearables. But they are complicated and costly to make. Now a team has made flexible TENGs by simply blasting organic materials with a laser to create graphene films (ACS Nano 2019, DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.9b02596). TENGs rely on the charge transfer between two closely placed thin films: an electron donor (usually a metal) and an electron-grabbing dielectric polymer. When rubbed or bent, the two surfaces build up opposite charges. An electrode placed on the polymer extracts current. Typically, the electrode is fabricated from metal or carbon nanomaterials using costly, involved techniques like chemical vapor deposition. Rice University chemist James Tour and colleagues used a one-step method they previously developed for making graphene foams using infrared laser pulses. To make TENGs this way, the researchers lased the dielectric polyimide to create a graphene electrode at