Affiliation:
1. Group of Biomimetic Smart Materials Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology Chinese Academy of Sciences & Shandong Energy Institute Songling Road 189 Qingdao 266101 P. R. China
2. Center of Material and Optoelectronics Engineering University of Chinese Academy of Sciences 19A Yuquan Road Beijing 100049 P. R. China
3. Key Laboratory of Rubber‐Plastics Ministry of Education/Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Rubber‐plastics Qingdao University of Science & Technology Qingdao 266042 P. R. China
4. Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology Chinese Academy of Sciences & Shandong Energy Institute Songling Road 189 Qingdao 266101 P. R. China
Abstract
AbstractHarvesting electricity from ubiquitous atmospheric moisture has drawn growing research attention. Despite great advances, moisture generators still suffer from performance decay during long‐term service. Recently, self‐oscillating actuators driven by humidity gradience have attracted great interests, which may give a clue to harvest energy persistently via electromagnetic induction. In order to combine high electric conductivity with self‐oscillating actuators, bimorph composites of 2D conductive MXene with liquid metal (i.e., EGaIn) are designed. In presence of marine alginate, EGaIn droplets can be encapsulated by MXene nanosheets in their suspension. And simple liquid‐casting can produce biomorph actuating films with top MXene‐rich layer and bottom EGaIn‐rich layer of self‐sintered EGaIn droplets. When exposing to a humidity gradience (e.g., 20% cm−1), this biomorph actuator can oscillate persistently with an actuating speed of ≈260° s−1 and a frequency of ≈0.5 Hz, while without any human intervention. Under a magnetic field (e.g., intensity ≈0.5 T), this self‐oscillating behavior can generate an alternating faradic current with an amplitude of at least 1360 µA m−2. Thus, this study may not only provide an alternative pathway for producing self‐oscillating and conductive actuators, but also offer a new strategy for persistent energy harvest from atmospheric moisture.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province
Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Subject
Electrochemistry,Condensed Matter Physics,Biomaterials,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials