are heavy, bulky, and immovable and are generally situated near dams, coasts, or river banks. [3-5] Furthermore, generating electricity using a traditional electromagnetic apparatus is difficult under low water supply, such as rainwater or fog. [6] Therefore, a small, novel, and portable electromagnetic system that can harvest energy from tiny water drops can act as a water-electricity transducer; such a system is an alternative to traditional hydropower equipment. Bioinspired superhydrophobic materials have low surface energy and microor nano-scale surface roughness, [7-9] rendering their unique capability to manipulate water droplets. By carefully designing and controlling the superhydrophobic surfaces, water drops can pin, [10] roll, [11] separate, [12] jump, [13] and react [14] and, therefore, can possess a variety of
The quest for out-of-plane and self-powered wind sensors
has motivated
the field of outdoor sports, exploration, space perception, and positioning.
Fine hairs of spiders act as hundreds of individual wind sensors,
allowing them to feel the nearby wind change caused by the predators
or the prey. Inspired by this natural teacher, here, we demonstrate
the fabrication of bioinspired self-powered out-of-plane wind sensors
based on flexible magnetoelectric material systems. The shape of flexible
sensors, by patterning silver nanoparticles on a thin polyethylene
terephthalate film through a screen printing technique, mimics fine
hairs of the spiders, allowing for out-of-plane tactile perceptual
monitoring caused by the wind. Owing to the employment of flexible
magnetoelectric materials, the sensors can distinguish forward/backward
winds and are totally self-powered. The working mechanism for sensors
has been explained by the Maxwell numerical simulation, allowing for
further improvement of their performance by tuning diverse factors.
Furthermore, the wind sensor can detect the wind with a velocity down
to 1.2 m/s and distinguish multidegree wind by their arrays. It is
expected that, in the near future, our design can provide new findings
for out-of-plane wind sensors with superior self-powered properties
toward new flexible electronics.
4D printing is a newly emerging technique that shows the capability of additively manufacturing structures whose shape, property, or functionality can controllably vary with time under external stimuli. However, most of the existing 4D printed products only focus on the variation of physical geometries, regardless of controllable changes of their properties, as well as practical functionality. Here, a material combination concept is proposed to construct 4D printed devices whose property and functionality can controllably vary. The 4D printed devices consist of conductive and magnetic parts, enabling the integrated devices to show a piezoelectric property even neither part is piezoelectric individually. Consequently, the functionality of the devices is endowed to transfer mechanical to electrical energy based on the electromagnetic introduction principle. The working mechanism of 4D printed devices is explained by a numerical simulation method using Comsol software, facilitating further optimization of their properties by regulating diverse parameters. Due to the self‐powered, quick‐responding, and sensitive properties, the 4D printed magnetoelectric device could work as pressure sensors to warn illegal invasion. This work opens a new manufacturing method of flexible magnetoelectric devices and provides a new material combination concept for the property‐changed and functionality‐changed 4D printing.
Healthcare monitoring, especially for respiration, has attracted tremendous attention from academics considering the great significance of health information feedback. The respiratory rate, as a critical health indicator, has been used to screen and evaluate potential illness risks in early medical diagnoses. A selfpowered sensing system for medical monitoring is critical and imperative due to needless battery replacement and simple assembly. However, the development of a self-powered respiratory sensor with highly sensitive performance is still a daunting challenge. In this work, a compressible and stretchable magnetoelectric sensor (CSMS) with an arch-shaped air gap is reported, enabling self-powered respiratory monitoring driven by exhaled/inhaled breath. The CSMS contains two key functional materials: liquid metals and magnetic powders both with low Young's modulus, allowing for sensing compressibility and stretchability simultaneously. More importantly, such a magnetoelectric sensor exhibits mechanoelectrical converting capacity under an external force, which has been verified by Maxwell numerical simulation. Owing to the air-layer introduction, the magnetoelectric sensors achieve high sensitivity (up to 17.73 kPa −1 ), fast response, and long-term stability. The highly sensitive and self-powered magnetoelectric sensor can be further applied as a noninvasive, miniaturized, and portable respiratory monitoring system with the aim of warning for potential health risks. We anticipate that this technique will create an avenue for self-powered respiratory monitoring fields.
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