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Photogated humidity-driven motility

Hygroinduced motion is a fundamental process of energy conversion that is essential for applications that require contactless actuation in response to the day–night rhythm of atmospheric humidity. Here we demonstrate that mechanical bistability caused by rapid and anisotropic adsorption and desorpti...

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Autores principales: Zhang, Lidong, Liang, Haoran, Jacob, Jolly, Naumov, Panče
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Pub. Group 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4490392/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26067649
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8429
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author Zhang, Lidong
Liang, Haoran
Jacob, Jolly
Naumov, Panče
author_facet Zhang, Lidong
Liang, Haoran
Jacob, Jolly
Naumov, Panče
author_sort Zhang, Lidong
collection PubMed
description Hygroinduced motion is a fundamental process of energy conversion that is essential for applications that require contactless actuation in response to the day–night rhythm of atmospheric humidity. Here we demonstrate that mechanical bistability caused by rapid and anisotropic adsorption and desorption of water vapour by a flexible dynamic element that harnesses the chemical potential across very small humidity gradients for perpetual motion can be effectively modulated with light. A mechanically robust material capable of rapid exchange of water with the surroundings is prepared that undergoes swift locomotion in effect to periodic shape reconfiguration with turnover frequency of <150 min(−1). The element can lift objects ∼85 times heavier and can transport cargos ∼20 times heavier than itself. Having an azobenzene-containing conjugate as a photoactive dopant, this entirely humidity-driven self-actuation can be controlled remotely with ultraviolet light, thus setting a platform for next-generation smart biomimetic hybrids.
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spelling pubmed-44903922015-07-13 Photogated humidity-driven motility Zhang, Lidong Liang, Haoran Jacob, Jolly Naumov, Panče Nat Commun Article Hygroinduced motion is a fundamental process of energy conversion that is essential for applications that require contactless actuation in response to the day–night rhythm of atmospheric humidity. Here we demonstrate that mechanical bistability caused by rapid and anisotropic adsorption and desorption of water vapour by a flexible dynamic element that harnesses the chemical potential across very small humidity gradients for perpetual motion can be effectively modulated with light. A mechanically robust material capable of rapid exchange of water with the surroundings is prepared that undergoes swift locomotion in effect to periodic shape reconfiguration with turnover frequency of <150 min(−1). The element can lift objects ∼85 times heavier and can transport cargos ∼20 times heavier than itself. Having an azobenzene-containing conjugate as a photoactive dopant, this entirely humidity-driven self-actuation can be controlled remotely with ultraviolet light, thus setting a platform for next-generation smart biomimetic hybrids. Nature Pub. Group 2015-06-11 /pmc/articles/PMC4490392/ /pubmed/26067649 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8429 Text en Copyright © 2015, Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Zhang, Lidong
Liang, Haoran
Jacob, Jolly
Naumov, Panče
Photogated humidity-driven motility
title Photogated humidity-driven motility
title_full Photogated humidity-driven motility
title_fullStr Photogated humidity-driven motility
title_full_unstemmed Photogated humidity-driven motility
title_short Photogated humidity-driven motility
title_sort photogated humidity-driven motility
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4490392/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26067649
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8429
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