Nanoporous-Gold-Based Hybrid Cantilevered Actuator Dealloyed and Driven by A Modified Rotary Triboelectric Nanogenerator.

Xuequan Li,Weiguo Hu,Baisheng Huang,Li-Hua Shao,Hong Liu,Mengmeng Liu,Zhong Lin Wang

doi:10.1038/srep24092

Abstract

We firstly designed an electrochemical system for dealloying to synthesize nanoporous gold (NPG) and also driving the novel NPG based actuator by utilizing a modified rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). Compared to the previous reported TENG whose outputs decline due to temperature rising resulting from electrodes friction, the modified TENG with a cooling system has stable output current and voltage increased by 14% and 20%, respectively. The novel cantilevered hybrid actuator characterised by light-weight (ca. 3 mg) and small volume (ca. 30 mm × 2 mm × 10 μm) is driven by a microcontroller modulated TENG with the displacement of 2.2 mm, which is about 106 times larger than that of traditional cantilever using planar surfaces. The energy conversion efficiencies defined as the energy consumed during dealloying and actuation compared with the output of TENG are 47% and 56.7%, respectively.

Highlights

Actuators refer to the devices that can reversibly change their dimensions upon the application of an external stimulus, such as an applied voltage[1]
It is confirmed that more complicated electrochemical activity such as dealloying and actuation can be powered by the modified triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG)
A novel electrochemical system has been desighed to synthesize nanoporous gold (NPG) and to drive the NPG based actuator by utilizing a motified rotary TENG driven by human activity

Summary

Introduction

Actuators refer to the devices that can reversibly change their dimensions upon the application of an external stimulus, such as an applied voltage[1]. NPG is normally fabricated by dealloying – a selective removal of Ag from an alloy AuAg solid solution by applying a suitable voltage in an electrolyte9–11 – which results in a gold solid skeleton with interconnected pores or voids at nanometer scale[12]. Both of the fabrication of NPG and driving the actuators require external power source[1,13]. We firstly designed an electrochemical system for dealloying to synthesize NPG and for driving the NPG based actuator by utilizing a motified rotary TENG with cooling system as a promising stable and sustainable green power source.

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion