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A soft-contact hybrid electromagnetic–triboelectric nanogenerator for self-powered water splitting towards hydrogen production
Nano Research
Published: 15 March 2024
Downloads:32

The effective acquisition of hydrogen energy from the ocean offers a promising sustainable solution for increasing global energy shortage. Herein, a self-powered high-efficient hydrogen generation system is proposed by integrating a triboelectric–electromagnetic hybrid nanogenerator (TEHG), power management circuit (PMC), and an electrolytic cell. Under the wind triggering, as-fabricated TEHG can effectively convert breeze energy into electric energy, which demonstrates a high output current of 20.3 mA at a speed rotation of 700 rpm and the maximal output power of 13.8 mW at a load of 10 MΩ. Remarkably, as-designed self-powered system can perform a steady and continuous water splitting to produce hydrogen (1.5 μL·min−1) by adding a matching capacitor between the PMC and electrolytic cell. In the circuit, the capacitor can not only function as a charge compensation source for water splitting, but also stabilize the working voltage. Unlike other self-powered water splitting systems, the proposed system does not need catalysts or the complex electrical energy storage/release process, thus improving the hydrogen production efficiency and reducing the cost. This work provides an effective strategy for clean hydrogen energy production and demonstrates the huge potential of the constructed self-powered system toward carbon neutralization.

Research Article Issue
Continuous synthesis of ultra-fine fiber for wearable mechanoluminescent textile
Nano Research 2023, 16 (7): 9379-9386
Published: 31 March 2023
Downloads:93

Continuous mechanoluminescence (ML) fibers and fiber-woven textiles have the potential to serve as new wearable devices for sensors, healthcare, human–computer interfacing, and Internet of Things. Considering the demands on wearability and adaptability for the ML textiles, it is essential to realize the continuous synthesis of fiber, while maintaining a desired small diameter. Here, we develop a novel adhere-coating method to fabricate ML composite fiber, consisting of a thin polyurethane (PU) core and ZnS:Cu/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) shell, with the outer diameter of 120 μm. By diluting PDMS to tune the thickness of liquid coating layer, droplets formation has been effectively prevented. The composite fiber exhibits a smooth surface structure and superior ML performances, including high brightness, excellent flexibility, and stability. In addition, a weft knitting textile fabricated by the continuous ML fiber can be easily delighted by manually stretching, and the ML fibers can emit visible signals upon human motion stimuli when woven into commercial cloth. Such continuous ultra-fine ML fibers are promising as wearable sensing devices for human motion detection and human–machine interactions.

Research Article Issue
Ultrasensitive broadband position-sensitive detector based on graphitic carbon nitride
Nano Research 2023, 16 (1): 1277-1285
Published: 31 August 2022
Downloads:87

As a typical two-dimensional material, graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) has attracted great interest because of its distinctive electronic, optical, and catalytic properties. However, the absence of a feasible route toward large-area and high-quality films hinders its development in optoelectronics. Herein, high-quality g-CN films have been grown on Si substrate via a vapor-phase transport-assisted condensation method. The g-CN/Si heterojunction shows an obvious response to ultraviolet–visible-near infrared photons with a responsivity of 133 A·W−1, which is two orders of magnitude higher than the best value ever reported for g-CN photodetectors. A position-sensitive detector (PSD) has been developed using the lateral photovoltaic effect of the g-CN/Si heterojunction. The PSD shows a wide response spectrum ranging from 300 to 1,100 nm, and a position sensitivity and rise/decay time of 395 mV·mm−1 and 3.1/50 μs, respectively. Moreover, the application of the g-CN/Si heterojunction photodetector in trajectory tracking and acoustic detection has been realized for the first time. This work unveils the potential of g-CN for large-area photodetectors, and prospects for their applications in trajectory tracking and acoustic detection.

Research Article Issue
Fabry-Perot interference and piezo-phototronic effect enhanced flexible MoS2 photodetector
Nano Research 2022, 15 (5): 4395-4402
Published: 06 December 2021
Downloads:80

Flexible photodetectors (PDs) are indispensable components for next-generation wearable electronics. Recently, two-dimensional (2D) materials have been implemented as functional flexible optoelectronic devices due to their characteristics of atomically thin layers, excellent flexibility, and strain sensitivity. In this work, we developed a flexible photodetector based on MoS2/NiO heterojunction, and Fabry-Perot (F-P) and piezo-phototronic effect have been employed to enhance the responsivity (R) and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the devices. The F-P effect is utilized to improve the optical absorption of the MoS2, resulting in an enhancement in the photoluminescence (PL) of monolayer MoS2 and the EQE of the photodetector by 30 and 130 times, respectively. The flexible photodetector exhibits an ultrahigh detectivity (D*) of 2.6 × 1014 Jones, which is the highest value ever reported for flexible MoS2 PDs. The piezo-potential of monolayer MoS2 decreases the valence band offset at the interface of MoS2/NiO, which increases the transfer efficiency of the photon-generated carriers significantly. Under 1.17% tensile strain, the R of the flexible photodetector can be enhanced by 271%. This research may provide a universal strategy for the design and performance optimization of 2D materials heterostructures for flexible optoelectronics.

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