Water engine enabled by Janus membrane for precisely controllable long-distance micro-boats driving

Abstract

Global environmental degradation brings an urgent need for clean energy sources. We propose a special water engine for micro-boats driven by a Janus membrane based on Laplace pressure. The movement status of water fuel boats including moving forward, turning left, right, and rotation, etc., can be accurately controlled by adjusting geometric parameters of micropores on the Janus membrane. Moreover, the energy of the water engine originates from the surface energy of water droplets, which enables the micro-boats stable and precisely controlled long-distance movement. Most significantly, we achieve the successive obstacles avoidance of micro-boats based on multiple water engines with directional nozzles, as well as boat formation carrying cargos moving forward and rotation, promising applications of cleaning polluted water, directional drug delivery, zero carbon emission transporter, energy collection of rain, and so on.