Jae Myeong Lee, Wonkyeong Son, Myoungeun Oh, Duri Han, Hyunji Seo, Hyeon Jun Sim, Shi Hyeong Kim, Dong-Myeong Shin, Chang-Seok Kim, Seon Jeong Kim, Changsoon Choi
Department of Electronic Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, 04763 South Korea
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Konkuk University, Chungju, 27478 South Korea
Textile Innovation R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do, 15588 Republic of Korea
Department of Advanced Material Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Anseong, Gyeonggi-do, 17546 Republic of Korea
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, 999077 P. R. China
Department of Cogno-Mechatronics Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan, 46241 Republic of Korea
*Corresponding author.E-mail: sjk@hanyang.ac.kr, pccs2004@hanyang.ac.kr.
원문 링크 : https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202501111
Abstract
Water holds vast potential for a useful energy source, yet traditional approaches capture only a fraction of it. This study introduces a heterophilically designed carbon nanotube (CNT) yarn with an asymmetric configuration. This yarn is capable of both electrical and mechanical torsional energy harvesting through dual-scale hydration. Fabricated via half-electrochemical oxidation, the yarn contains a hydrophilic region enriched with oxygen-containing functional groups and a hydrophobic pristine CNT region. Molecular-scale hydration triggers proton release in the hydrophilic region. Consequently, a concentration gradient is established that generates a peak open-circuit voltage of 106.0 mV and a short-circuit current of 20.6 mA cm−2. Simultaneously, microscale hydration induces water absorption into inter-bundle microchannels, resulting in considerable yarn volume expansion. This process leads to hydro-driven actuation with a torsional stroke of 78.8° mm−1 and a maximum rotational speed of 1012 RPM. The presented simultaneous harvesting results in electrical and mechanical power densities of 3.5 mW m−2 and 34.3 W kg−1, respectively, during a hydration cycle. By integrating molecular and microscale hydrations, the proposed heterophilic CNT yarns establish an unprecedented platform for simultaneous electrical and mechanical energy harvesting from water, representing a groundbreaking development for sustainable applications.