초록 |
Artificial muscle is materials or devices that can be driven by an external stimulus as a reversible movement. Carbon nanotube artificial muscles using contraction, relaxation, bending, or rotation and powered by electricity, light, or heat are well known. Here, carbon nanotube yarn energy harvesters which electrochemically convert mechanical energy directly into electrical energy. Unlike other harvesters, torsional rotation results in both tensile and torsional energy harvesting and no bias voltage is required, even when electrochemically operating in sea water. The harvesters are scalable in output energy per cycle to the micron diameters needed for harvesting energy in textiles. Future applications of the harvesters might result from their high gravimetric power densities, the giant stroke, the broad frequency range, their operation in other electrolytes without need for an external bias potential, and their scalability from micron-scale-diameter harvesters. |