Exploring solar-powered artificial wings
Exploring solar-powered artificial wings
Artificial wings powered by solar energy.
© American Chemical Society (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] In ancient Greek mythology, Icarus's wax wings melted when he dared to fly too close to the sun. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces have made artificial wings that are actually powered by the sun. The tiny wings, which can flap even faster than those of butterflies, could someday be used in sun-powered robots or devices for solar energy harvesting.
Light-driven actuators are devices that convert light into mechanical work. However, they usually require light much brighter than the sun that cycles on and off or additional hardware to keep them going in natural sunlight. Ningyi Yuan, Jianning Ding, and colleagues wanted to develop artificial wings that convert natural sunlight into a flapping motion without the need for additional hardware. So they coated a thin polymer sheet, the FEP substrate shown here, with a nano-crystal and metallic layer.
When the team fixed one end of the artificial wing to a support and shown simulated sunlight onto it, the temperature of the strip increased. The polymer layer on the bottom expanded more from the heat than the metal layer on the top, causing the wing to curl. Then, the curved part of the wing shaded itself, causing the temperature to drop and the strip to unfold. Continuous cycles of bending and unfolding produced a flapping motion.
The team demonstrated the flapping wings in several applications. For example, they fashioned a light-driven whirligig that rotated continuously without any wind. They also made a toy boat that sailed across water outside in natural sunlight and a device that converted simulated sunlight into an electric current. The team also demonstrated light-driven motors that fold, roll, travel over obstacles, and wriggle. The researchers say that the artificial wings could someday be used to help small robots move or fly without the need for batteries.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Light-driven actuators are devices that convert light into mechanical work. However, they usually require light much brighter than the sun that cycles on and off or additional hardware to keep them going in natural sunlight. Ningyi Yuan, Jianning Ding, and colleagues wanted to develop artificial wings that convert natural sunlight into a flapping motion without the need for additional hardware. So they coated a thin polymer sheet, the FEP substrate shown here, with a nano-crystal and metallic layer.
When the team fixed one end of the artificial wing to a support and shown simulated sunlight onto it, the temperature of the strip increased. The polymer layer on the bottom expanded more from the heat than the metal layer on the top, causing the wing to curl. Then, the curved part of the wing shaded itself, causing the temperature to drop and the strip to unfold. Continuous cycles of bending and unfolding produced a flapping motion.
The team demonstrated the flapping wings in several applications. For example, they fashioned a light-driven whirligig that rotated continuously without any wind. They also made a toy boat that sailed across water outside in natural sunlight and a device that converted simulated sunlight into an electric current. The team also demonstrated light-driven motors that fold, roll, travel over obstacles, and wriggle. The researchers say that the artificial wings could someday be used to help small robots move or fly without the need for batteries.
[MUSIC PLAYING]