Electrospun cellulose acetate nanofibrous composites for multi-responsive shape memory actuators and self-powered pressure sensors

Yongkang Bai; Zhijian Zhou; Qixuan Zhu; Shaorong Lu; Yuqi Li; Leonid Ionov

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.120868

Electrospun cellulose acetate nanofibrous composites for multi-responsive shape memory actuators and self-powered pressure sensors

Carbohydr Polym. 2023 Aug 1:313:120868. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.120868. Epub 2023 Mar 31.

Authors

Yongkang Bai¹, Zhijian Zhou², Qixuan Zhu³, Shaorong Lu², Yuqi Li⁴, Leonid Ionov⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Energy Chemical Process Intensification, Institute of Polymer Science in Chemical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710049, PR China. Electronic address: yongkangbai@sina.com.
² Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Nonferrous Metals and Materials, Ministry of Education, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, PR China.
³ School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Energy Chemical Process Intensification, Institute of Polymer Science in Chemical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710049, PR China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Nonferrous Metals and Materials, Ministry of Education, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, PR China. Electronic address: liyuqi@glut.edu.cn.
⁵ Faculty of Engineering Sciences and Bavarian, Polymer Institute, University of Bayreuth, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany.

PMID: 37182959
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.120868

Abstract

Soft actuators and sensors have attracted extensive scientific interest attributed to their great potential applications in various fields, but the integration of actuating and sensing functions in one material is still a big challenge. Here, we developed an electrospun cellulose acetate (CA)/carbon nanotube nanofiborous composite with both functional applications as multi-responsive shape memory actuators and triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) based sensors. Attributed to excellent thermo- and light-induced shape memory performance, the CA nanofiborous composites showed high heavy-lift capability as light driven actuators, able to lift burdens 1050 times heavier than their own weight. The CA nanofiborous membranes based TENG exhibited high output performance with open-circuit voltage, short-circuit density, and instantaneous power density about 103.2 V, 7.93 mA m^-2 and 0.74 W m^-2, respectively. The fabricated TENG based pressure sensor exhibited a high sensitivity of 3.03 V kPa^-1 below 6.8 kPa and 0.11 V kPa^-1 in the pressure range from 6.8 to 65 kPa, which can be effectively used to monitor human motion state and measure wind velocity. It is expected that the electrospun composites with actuating and sensing functions will show prosperous applications prospects in soft robotics.

Keywords: Cellulose acetate; Electrospining; Pressure sensors; Shape memory actuators; Tribolectric nanogenerators.