Review
Chemistry, Physical
Pengcheng Jiao
Summary: Piezoelectric nanogenerators and triboelectric nanogenerators are paving the way for sustainable energy harvesting, with recent advancements incorporating artificial intelligence to optimize their mechanical-to-electrical performance. This integration of AI in nanogenerators shows promising potential for future innovations in green energy solutions.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Hai Li, Sooman Lim
Summary: Transparent and flexible piezoelectric nanogenerators (ST-PENGs) based on PFOES and PVDF-HFP composite films were prepared, exhibiting a higher beta-phase content and remarkable piezoelectric properties. The hydrogen bonding interaction between the PVDF-HFP matrix and the PFOES agents causes a clear transition from phase to phase. These ST-PENGs generate an excellent output voltage, power, and sensitivity, exhibiting a record-high improvement compared with previously reported PENGs. This study may provide insight into the development of transparent and flexible piezoelectric devices for high-performance self-powered electronics.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yuan Liu, Baodong Chen, Wei Li, Lulu Zu, Wei Tang, Zhong Lin Wang
Summary: This study introduces a new technology - the triboelectric soft robot system, which uses mechanical energy as a power source and achieves crawling on different surfaces and slopes at maximum speed. The experiment also demonstrates the successful real-time image transmission in a narrow tunnel, potentially enabling fast diagnosis in inaccessible areas in the future.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Jinsui Xu, Boyi Xu, Zhijie Xie, Ye Tian, Kai Ying, Honghao Yue, Fei Yang
Summary: A flexible multifunctional sensor, combining a liquid metal microchannel structure with a granular single electrode, is developed to detect the bending angle and stiffness of soft grippers in real-time. By integrating triboelectric nanogenerator with particle interference variable stiffness, the sensor successfully detects the stiffness of the soft finger. The research also demonstrates the real-time signal feedback during the grasp-move-release process of objects of different sizes and weights using the built soft grasping system.
ADVANCED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGIES
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Physical
Yiding Song, Nan Wang, Chaosheng Hu, Zhong Lin Wang, Ya Yang
Summary: The soft triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is a promising technology that efficiently utilizes ambient mechanical energy for self-powered operation and sensing. By integrating soft materials and deformable design, it expands the application scenarios of TENG.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Yaokun Pang, Yuhui Fang, Jiaji Su, Huigang Wang, Yeqiang Tan, Changyong (Chase) Cao
Summary: A new triboelectric-electromagnetic hybrid nanogenerator (TEHG) has been developed, which combines a soft ball-based triboelectric nanogenerator (SB-TENG) and an electromagnetic generator (EMG) for efficient energy harvesting from low-frequency water waves. The critical parameters affecting the energy harvesting performance of the SB-TENG have been investigated, including the type of filled liquids, silicone shell thickness, number of layers, and added soft balls. Under an operating frequency of 1 Hz, the SB-TENG and EMG can reach a maximum output peak power of 0.5 and 8.5 mW, respectively. This study not only presents a new design and approach to enhance the output performance of TENGs, but also demonstrates the potential of a self-powered water-sensing system driven by low-frequency water waves.
ADVANCED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGIES
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Leo N. Y. Cao, Zijie Xu, Zhong Lin Wang
Summary: The TENG has shown great potential as a fluid dynamics sensor, with applications in energy harvesting, environmental protection, wearable electronics, and more. However, there are still challenges to be addressed in this field, requiring further research and innovation.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yifei Wang, Xia Cao, Ning Wang
Summary: Piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerators (PTCNG) have gained significant attention due to their advantages of easy design/manufacturing, small size, and flexibility. This review provides a detailed overview of the key technologies of PTCNG, including operating principles, integration concept, and performance enhancement strategies, with a focus on structural simplification and efficiency performance improvement. The latest applications of PTCNG in tactile sensors and energy-harvesting systems are also discussed. The main challenges and prospects for future PTCNG development are analyzed, aiming to provide new insights into the development of all-in-one mechanical energy-scavenging and sensing devices.
Review
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Songlin Zhang, Michael Bick, Xiao Xiao, Guorui Chen, Ardo Nashalian, Jun Chen
Summary: Global interest in wearable bioelectronics for monitoring human health status is rising, especially with the emergence of new diseases. While using wearable devices for personal health monitoring is becoming popular, finding practical healthcare solutions is becoming increasingly challenging with an aging population. Triboelectric nanogenerators show promise for sustainable power sources, active biomonitors, and electrical stimulation therapeutics in bioengineering applications, but there are challenges that need to be addressed in leveraging them for personalized healthcare.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Omer Faruk Unsal, Ayse C. elik Bedeloglu
Summary: This study presents experimental results on the production, characterization, and applications of three-dimensionally designed piezoelectric-triboelectric hybrid nanogenerators. The nanofiber mats were manufactured using poly(vinylidene fluoride) and thermoplastic polyurethane as the piezoelectric and triboelectric counter materials, respectively. Surface-engineering agents such as poly(vinylpyrrolidone), reduced graphene oxide nanoplates (rGO NPs), and zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs) were utilized for decoration. The resulting hybrid nanogenerators showed significant improvement in voltage and current density.
ACS APPLIED NANO MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Manwen Zhang, Ran Yu, Xinglin Tao, Yangyang He, Xinpan Li, Feng Tian, Xiangyu Chen, Wei Huang
Summary: Ionogels are promising materials for flexible electronics due to their continuous conductive phase, high thermal and chemical stability. However, a large amount of ionic liquid is required to get high conductivity, resulting in a sharp decline in the mechanical properties. Therefore, it is a great challenge to prepare ionogels with both high conductivity and mechanical properties, which is important for their practical applications.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Panpan Zhang, Wenbin Guo, Zi Hao Guo, Yuan Ma, Lei Gao, Zifeng Cong, Xue Jiao Zhao, Lijie Qiao, Xiong Pu, Zhong Lin Wang
Summary: A dry ion-conducting elastomer with dynamic crosslinking structures has been developed, exhibiting high ionic conductivity, self-healing capability, stretchability, and transparency. Two soft iontronic devices were successfully realized using this new material, showing self-healing and stretchable properties, wide operational temperature range, and excellent stability.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhipeng Zheng, Binquan Wang, Hao Yin, Yujie Chen, Yi Bao, Yiping Guo
Summary: In this paper, a low-power actuation scheme enabled by the multilayered TENG for piezoelectric actuators is reported. The multilayered TENG provides a low-power alternative for piezoelectric actuator with self-powered capability and operational safety. The feasibility of precise positioning control and vibration control is demonstrated utilizing the TENG-powered actuators, and the potential application of the TENG-powered piezoelectric micropump in liquid transport is also verified.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Shaobo Lv, Hongyun Li, Yiyuan Xie, Binbin Zhang, Bochao Liu, Jin Yang, Hengyu Guo, Zhengbao Yang, Zhiming Lin
Summary: This study presents a rotational TENG that achieves exceptional output performance and durability in mechanical energy harvesting. With optimized design, the prototype can continuously drive commercial lamps and power electronic devices, providing a sound strategy for improving TENGs' output and durability in self-powered sensor systems.
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
M. Wu, Z. Gao, K. Yao, S. Hou, Y. Liu, D. Li, J. He, X. Huang, E. Song, J. Yu, X. Yu
Summary: Flexible and stretchable triboelectric nanogenerator (FS-TENG) is a promising technology for energy harvesting and tactile sensing. By using porous poly(dimethylsiloxane) foam and advanced serpentine silver nanowires, ultrathin self-powering sensors have been developed to enhance the electrical output signals. These sensors have shown great potential for applications in healthcare monitoring and human-machine interfaces.
MATERIALS TODAY ENERGY
(2021)
Article
Acoustics
Zuhayr Rymansaib, Polat Kurt, Yan Zhang, James I. Roscow, Christopher R. Bowen, Alan J. Hunter
Summary: This article discusses the application of the freeze-casting technique in the fabrication of porous piezoelectric ceramics for underwater ultrasonic transducers. The results show that the porous freeze-cast transducers have comparable acoustic performance to their dense counterparts.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ULTRASONICS FERROELECTRICS AND FREQUENCY CONTROL
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Feng Huang, Ben-wu Wang, Qi-peng Li, Jun Zou
Summary: In this study, a deep network named Cascade Tri-DFPN is proposed for detecting defects on the texture surface of plastic relays. The network utilizes a derivative Resnet-101d as the backbone and introduces an enhanced feature pyramid module and a cascade module for improved feature representation and defect region proposals. Experimental results demonstrate the remarkable improvement of the proposed network in surface defect detection, as well as its robustness under deteriorative image processing.
JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT MANUFACTURING
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Yu Gu, Yi Han, Xiangzhi Liu, Ning Zhang, Xiufeng Zhang, Min Pan, Shuoyu Wang, Wei Dong, Tao Liu
Summary: This article proposes a three-stage real-time adaptive anti-disturbance data fusion algorithm to improve the measurement accuracy of MIMU-flexible sensor-based wearable systems under magnetic disturbance. The performance of the algorithm is validated on a designed wearable system, and the results show high accuracy in the indoor environment.
IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Ying Zhang, Wei-Hsin Liao, Chris Bowen, Wei Wang, Junyi Cao
Summary: This paper presents new insights into the accuracy and application constraints of modeling methods for calculating the impact of magnetic force on multi-stable energy harvesters. Through theoretical derivation and numerical evaluation, a quantitative assessment of errors under different structural parameters and magnet sizes is provided. Experimental measurements are also conducted to verify the applicability of these modeling methods.
JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT MATERIAL SYSTEMS AND STRUCTURES
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Civil
J. H. Tian, X. X. Lu, Q. Yang, Z. Zhang, G. L. Ma, C. R. Bowen
Summary: This paper studies the applicability of four typical wear models in assessing rail wheel wear and analyzes the influence of speed on wear fluctuation. The results show that the four wear models have similar results in calculating instantaneous wear and can accurately reflect the frequency characteristics of excitation.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS PART F-JOURNAL OF RAIL AND RAPID TRANSIT
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Yi Han, Xiangliang Zhang, Ning Zhang, Shuguang Meng, Tao Liu, Shuoyu Wang, Min Pan, Xiufeng Zhang, Jingang Yi
Summary: In this study, a hand gesture + face expression human machine interaction technique is proposed and applied to a bedridden rehabilitation robot. The technique combines gesture and facial expression perception as the input mode. It uses seven basic facial expressions for target selection tasks and hand gestures to control cursor location.
Review
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Fangye Lin, Keyu Wo, Xujun Fan, Wei Wang, Jun Zou
Summary: The manipulation of underwater bubbles on substrates has attracted attention from the scientific community and industry. Recent advances in smart substrates enable the transportation of bubbles on demand. This review summarizes the progress in the directional transport of underwater bubbles on various types of substrates and discusses the wide applications and challenges of directional bubble transport. It also outlines the fundamental mechanisms and methods for optimizing bubble transportation performances.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
ZhongDong Jiao, ZhiQiu Ye, PingAn Zhu, Wei Tang, HuaYong Yang, Jun Zou
Summary: This study presents a fabrication strategy to give soft actuators sensing capability and programmable actuation performances. By using foam as both actuator and sensor, the conformability and connection reliability issues in current self-sensing actuators are effectively addressed. The actuators are lightweight, powerful, and versatile, and they can detect multiple physical stimuli with high reliability. Two self-sensing soft robotic prototypes are constructed to demonstrate their multifunctionality. This research opens up new possibilities for the design of soft actuators and has promising potential in various applications.
SCIENCE CHINA-TECHNOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Pingan Zhu, Wei Tang, Zhongdong Jiao, Huxiu Xu, Yu Hu, Yang Qu, Huayong Yang, Jun Zou
Summary: Soft robots with fluid-driven actuators can operate safely in dynamically evolving or highly unstructured environments due to their compliance. However, existing fluid pumps only allow for single linear flow, limiting the design possibilities of soft robots. In this study, a liquid manipulator based on electrohydrodynamic (EHD) effect is proposed, which uses a flexible substrate with printed planar electrode patterns to manipulate the fluid flow and achieve multiple movement behaviors. These liquid manipulators are flexible, fast-response, thin, lightweight, and scalable, making them suitable for integration into soft robotic systems. They have been successfully embedded into a rotating motor, a tunable liquid lens, and a linear actuator to demonstrate their capabilities for continuous rotation, radial motion, and linear motion.
ADVANCED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGIES
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Zhongdong Jiao, Pingan Zhu, Zhenhan Hu, Yuhao Shi, Wei Tang, Huayong Yang, Jun Zou
Summary: An artificial soft rotary motor capable of bidirectional continuous rotation and tunable stepping angles is presented, offering enhanced agility and movement capabilities for soft robots.
ADVANCED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGIES
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yiding Zhong, Wei Tang, Huxiu Xu, Kecheng Qin, Dong Yan, Xujun Fan, Yang Qu, Zhaoyang Li, Zhongdong Jiao, Huayong Yang, Jun Zou
Summary: This paragraph introduces a class of phase-transforming mechanical metamaterials (PMMs) that integrate customizable structures, reversible deformation, shape-locking performance, and stretchability. By arranging basic actuating units according to a designed pattern, PMMs can achieve complex and diverse structures and deformations. Liquid-vapor phase transformation provides reversible large deformation, while a silicone matrix offers stretchability. The presence of carbonyl iron powder allows for dynamically controllable shape-locking performance.
NATIONAL SCIENCE REVIEW
(2023)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Kecheng Qin, Wei Tang, Yiding Zhong, Yang Liu, Huxiu Xu, Pingan Zhu, Dong Yan, Huayong Yang, Jun Zou
Summary: This article introduces an aerial-aquatic robot with tunable tilting motors and a delta wing, inspired by the aerial-aquatic behavior of wild ducks. The robot can perform multimode motion, including flying, swimming, transitioning, and diving. The field experiments demonstrate its multimode motion and high maneuverability.
ADVANCED INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xianrong Liang, Chenggang Yuan, Chaoying Wan, Xiaolong Gao, Chris Bowen, Min Pan
Summary: Soft robotic bodies are susceptible to damage, but a new self-healing robot has been developed using a thermoplastic MG-SBS elastomer tube. The robot is capable of autonomously healing its stiffness and elongation to almost fully recover its performance after being separated into multiple parts. The robot is driven by a micro two-way shape-memory alloy spring actuator and is able to crawl at a speed of 21.6 cm/min.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Dongdong Zhang, Jie Teng, Hongli Yang, Zhi Fang, Kai Song, Lin Wang, Huilin Hou, Xianlu Lu, Chris R. Bowen, Weiyou Yang
Summary: In this study, a method for the scalable fabrication of CdS/ZnS 1D/2D heterojunctions under ambient air conditions was reported. The as-formed heterojunctions exhibited significantly enhanced photocatalytic H-2 evolution performance under visible light, and demonstrated robust stability. The formation mechanism of the 1D/2D heterojunctions and the importance of rich Zn vacancies in enhancing the photocatalytic behavior were also revealed.
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Ye Tian, Junjie Liu, Wenjie Wu, Xianrong Liang, Min Pan, Chris Bowen, Yong Jiang, Jingyao Sun, Tony McNally, Daming Wu, Yao Huang, Chaoying Wan
Summary: In this paper, a Peano-hydraulically amplified self-healing electrostatic actuator with a bilayer polymer shell is proposed to improve the actuator performance. The new actuator demonstrates high strain and load-bearing capabilities, making it attractive for driving piston systems in soft robotics.
ADVANCED INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS
(2022)
