Elsevier

Nano Energy

Volume 20, February 2016, Pages 233-243
Nano Energy

Communication
Generating induced current through the diving-surfacing motion of a stimulus–responsive smart device

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.11.037Get rights and content

Highlights

  • A mini-generator was designed to convert chemical energy to electricity through cycled diving-surfacing motions.

  • The generator could start motion through adjusting the system from acidic to alkaline; after changing back to acidic and adding hydrogen peroxide, the device could perform rapid diving-surfacing cycles through gathering and releasing oxygen bubbles; by connecting the device with electrochemical workstation through a conductive line in a magnetic field, the induced current was generated.

  • Moreover, the effects of hydrogen peroxide concentration and device shape on the current-time curves were investigated.

Abstract

Energy conversion from chemical to mechanical forms and then to electricity has experienced an explosive development in recent years. However, most of the current studies are challenged by producing a high output of induced current through cutting the strong magnetic line with a conductive line. Herein, we designed and fabricated a mini-generator to perform a diving-surfacing cycled motion with an intelligent initiation based on pH-responsive materials, and the obtained mechanical energy can be converted into electricity through cutting the strong magnetic line with a conductive line. Under acidic conditions, the device floated on the surface of water, and its locomotion was switched on through the addition of a basic solution. The re-float process was initiated by adding an acid solution and hydrogen peroxide. By investigating the influencing factors of the smart motion, we found that the device that consisted of one pH-responsive part, one hydrophobic part and a quartz cell performed the best under a 0.9% concentration of hydrogen peroxide during the diving-surfacing motion with a high frequency, leading to the highest output of induced current. Moreover, the device with bilateral-pyramidic structure provided the highest diving-surfacing frequency and maximized vertical motion velocity because of its drag-reducing property, achieving the highest output of induced electromotive force.

Introduction

Inspired by biomotors, researchers have attempted to design a self-propulsion strategy to understand the mechanism of motions, control the motion, and develop potential applications in directed transportation [1], [2], drug delivery [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], bio-mimicking [8], [9], separation of special cargo [10], manipulation of cells [11], [12], and macroscopic supramolecular assembly [13], [14]. In addition to the above applications, the production of electrical energy through Faraday׳s law from mechanical forms originating from chemical power has been a focus of recent research; this process realizes the reutilization of energy resources. Previously, two strategies have been developed to realize the conversion from chemical power to electric energy. One strategy is to generate electricity in coils through the locomotion of a magnet. For example, Osada developed a gel-generator which consisted of a gel rotor equipped with a pair of permanent magnets and a solenoid coil and realized the generation of electricity through the rotation of the gel rotor under the propulsion of a surface tension gradient [15]; similarly, Matsui and coworkers incorporated diphenylalanine peptides into metal-organic frameworks to power the rotation of a device with a permanent magnet via the Marangoni effect and induced the generation of electric power [16]. Chattopadhyay et al. observed the induction of electromotive forces into a Faraday coil by the motions of a composite magnetic particle and Pd nanoparticles, which performed diving/surfacing cycled motion by decomposing hydrogen peroxide [17]. However, because the chemical power is not sufficiently strong to drive the locomotion of a large device, the magnet loaded in the small device displays weak magnetic field intensity. The other strategy is to cut the magnetic line with a conductive line in the vertical direction. We designed a functionally cooperating device that could convert chemical energy into electricity through diving-surfacing cycles propelled by the hydrogen bubbles released from the reaction between magnesium and acid [18]. In our system, we utilized one conductive line to cut the magnetic line produced from the large magnet; the generated power is potentially comparable with that in the above work. However, the propulsion system in our previous work was not sustainable because the motions and electricity generation would stop once the loaded fuel of magnesium ran out [19]; a similar problem occurs in the system driven by the Marangoni effect [20], [21], [22]. Therefore, challenges remain in developing a generator with a sustainable property when using a conductive line to cut the strong magnetic line.

In this paper, we fabricated a mini-generator that can convert the chemical energy of hydrogen peroxide into electricity in a diving-surfacing cycle. This cycle is driven by the generation of oxygen bubbles resulting from the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in response to the pH value. Moreover, we investigated the influencing factors of the controllable motion: the surface wettability, the concentration of hydrogen peroxide and the shape of the device. The results showed that the device with a hydrophobic upper part and a transformable bottom part (from superhydrophobicity to superhydrophilicity) best realizes a controlled locomotion with a switch-on effect; that the frequency of the diving-surfacing cycled motions increases with the increased concentration of hydrogen peroxide; and that the device with a bilateral-pyramidic shape (compared to rectangular and arch shapes) develops the highest frequency of the induced current. The current study improves the understanding of the existing system of the mini-generator [23], [24] induced by the conversion from chemical energy to mechanical energy and then electrical energy.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

HF (40%), AgNO3 and 1-dodecanethiol (SH(CH2)11CH3) (Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Beijing Co., Ltd.); 1-decanethiol (SH(CH2)9CH3) (Aldrich), 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (SH(CH2)10COOH) (Sigma); silicon wafer (GRINM semiconductor Materials Co., Ltd.) were used as purchased. The copper foam was acquired from Anping Xinlong Wire Mesh Manufacture Co., Ltd, China; this foam was a porous film formed by continuous meshes that contained staggered holes with a diameter of approximately 500 μm.

The contact

Results and discussion

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were used to characterize the preparation process of the pH-responsive surface. As shown in Fig. S1, the surface morphology of the copper foam before and after electroless metal deposition differed dramatically. Before electroless metal deposition, the copper foam displayed a complex porous structure consisting of continuous ridges and staggered holes with an average diameter of approximately 500 μm (Fig. S1a). After a

Conclusion

In conclusion, we designed and fabricated a mini-generator that can convert chemical energy from hydrogen peroxide into electricity in a diving-surfacing cycle driven by the generation of oxygen bubbles through the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in response to external pH transformations. By changing the acidic solution to a basic solution, the wettability of the pH-responsive surface transformed from superhydrophobic to superhydrophilic, resulting in the diving process. Changing the

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (51422302; 51125007), the Program of the Co-Construction with Beijing Municipal Commission of Education, China, Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials (SKLSSM2015017) and Beijing Young Talents Plan (YETP0488).

Mengmeng Song is a PhD candidate in the College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology. Her research interests mainly include functionally cooperating device, vertical motion, mini-generator.

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    Mengmeng Song is a PhD candidate in the College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology. Her research interests mainly include functionally cooperating device, vertical motion, mini-generator.

    Meng Xiao is a PhD candidate in the College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology. Her main research interests focus on the field of self-propelled motion in horizontal dimension, assembly at the macroscopic scale, mini-generator.

    Lina Zhang is a master student in the college of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology. Her research interests include the development of high voltage mini-generators and self-propelled motion driven by molecular recognition.

    Dequn Zhang is a master student in the college of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology. His research interests focus on the self-propelled motion in horizontal dimension driven by molecular recognition.

    Yuting Liu gained her BS in the University College Cork, Ireland from 2011 to 2013, and MS in University of Nottingham, UK from 2013 to 2014. Her research interests mainly focus on the layer-by-layer self-assembly of nanostructured artificial nacre.

    Professor Feng Wang received his BS in Beijing University of Chemical Technology in 1989, and gained his PhD in Tokyo Metropolitan University in 2003. He became the full professor in Beijing University of Chemical Technology at 2006. His research interests include electro-catalytic materials, nanocarbon materials, and applied electrochemical engineering.

    Professor Shi Feng gained his BS in Department of Chemistry, Jilin University, and gained PhD in Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University in 1997 and 2004, respectively. He joined State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology at 2008. His main research interests focus on surface modification and supramolecular assembly in macroscopic scale, design and fabrication smart device, and energy conversion from chemical power or mechanical energy to electricity.

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    These authors contributed equally to this work.

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