More Powerful Twistron Carbon Nanotube Yarn Mechanical Energy Harvesters

Abstract

Stretching a coiled carbon nanotube (CNT) yarn can provide large, reversible electrochemical capacitance changes, which convert mechanical energy to electricity. Here, it is shown that the performance of these “twistron” harvesters can be increased by optimizing the alignment of precursor CNT forests, plastically stretching the precursor twisted yarn, applying much higher tensile loads during precoiling twist than for coiling, using electrothermal pulse annealing under tension, and incorporating reduced graphene oxide nanoplates. The peak output power for a 1 and a 30 Hz sinusoidal deformation are 0.73 and 3.19 kW kg−1, respectively, which are 24‐ and 13‐fold that of previous twistron harvesters at these respective frequencies. This performance at 30 Hz is over 12‐fold that of other prior‐art mechanical energy harvesters for frequencies between 0.1 and 600 Hz. The maximum energy conversion efficiency is 7.2‐fold that for previous twistrons. Twistron anode and cathode yarn arrays are stretched 180° out‐of‐phase by locating them in the negative and positive compressibility directions of hinged wine‐rack frames, thereby doubling the output voltage and reducing the input mechanical energy.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
May 31, 2022
Source ID
10.1002/adma.202201826

Entities

People

  • Ali E Aliev
  • Anvar A. Zakhidov
  • Chi Huynh
  • Enlai Gao
  • Fernando M. Machado
  • Gang Wan
  • Jae Sang Hyeon
  • Ji Hwan Moon
  • Jiuke Mu
  • Jong Woo Park
  • Kyeongjae Cho
  • Mengmeng Zhang
  • Patrick Conlin
  • Ray H. Baughman
  • Seon Jeong Kim
  • Shaoli Fang
  • Tae Jin Mun
  • Wenting Cai
  • Zhong Wang

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • Federal University of Pelotas
  • Hanyang University
  • Stanford University
  • University of Texas at Dallas
  • Wuhan University
  • Xi'an Jiaotong University

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Electrical Engineering
  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Solar Photovoltaics and Thermoelectric Devices.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Microelectromechanical Systems