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Morphable three-dimensional electronic mesofliers capable of on-demand unfolding

按需展开的可变形三维电子介观飞行器

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Abstract

Development of miniaturized three-dimensional (3D) fliers with integrated functional components has important implications to a diverse range of engineering areas. Among the various active and passive miniaturized 3D fliers reported previously, a class of 3D electronic fliers inspired by wind-dispersed seeds show promising potentials, owing to the lightweight and noiseless features, aside from the stable rotational fall associated with a low falling velocity. While on-demand shape-morphing capabilities are essential for those 3D electronic fliers, the realization of such miniaturized systems remains very challenging, due to the lack of fast-response 3D actuators that can be seamlessly integrated with 3D electronic fliers. Here we develop a type of morphable 3D mesofliers with shape memory polymer (SMP)-based electrothermal actuators, capable of large degree of actuation deformations, with a fast response (e.g., ∼1 s). Integration of functional components, including sensors, controllers, and chip batteries, enables development of intelligent 3D mesoflier systems that can achieve the on-demand unfolding, triggered by the processing of real-time sensed information (e.g., acceleration and humidity data). Such intelligent electronic mesofliers are capable of both the low-air-drag rising and the low-velocity falling, and thereby, can be used to measure the humidity fields in a wide 3D space by simple hand throwing, according to our demonstrations. The developed electronic mesofliers can also be integrated with other types of physical/chemical sensors for uses in different application scenarios.

摘要

集成功能器件的三维(3D)微型飞行器在工程领域多个方面都具有重要意义. 在近期报道的各种主动和被动型三维微型飞行器中, 一类由风传种子启发的三维飞行器因其具备低速自旋稳定下落、 超轻、 静音等特点, 显示出巨大的应用潜力. 具备按需形状重构的能力对于这类三维飞行器至关重要, 然而由于缺乏可与三维飞行器无缝集成的快速响应驱动器, 制造这类智能微型飞行器系统仍然具有挑战. 在这项研究工作中, 我们开发了一种基于形状记忆聚合物(SMP)电热驱动器的可变形三维介观飞行器, 其能够实现较大驱动变形和快速响应(∼1 s). 通过集成传感器、控制器和微型锂电池等功能器件, 我们开发了一种智能三维介观飞行器系统. 该系统通过实时处理感知的信息(如加速度和湿度数据)以实现按需展开. 这种智能电子介观飞行器具备低阻上升和低速下降的能力, 本文演示了通过简单的投掷测量广阔空间的湿度场分布. 此外, 这种智能三维介观飞行器还可以集成其他类型的物理/化学传感器以适应不同的应用场景.

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Acknowledgements

Zhang Y acknowledges support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12050004 and 11921002), the Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology, and a grant from the Institute for Guo Qiang, Tsinghua University (2019GQG1012). Song H acknowledges support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11902178), the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality (3204043), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2019M650648). Xue Z acknowledges support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61904095).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Ziyao Ji  (籍梓垚), Jianzhong Zhao  (赵建中), Honglie Song  (宋洪烈), Shiwei Xu  (徐世威), Wenbo Pang  (庞文博), Xiaonan Hu  (胡笑男), Fan Zhang  (张帆), Tianqi Jin  (金天棨), Yumeng Shuai  (帅雨萌), Yu Lan  (兰宇), Di Cheng  (程頔), Wenwen Man  (满文文), Renheng Bo  (柏韧恒) & Yihui Zhang  (张一慧)

  2. Center for Flexible Electronics Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Ziyao Ji  (籍梓垚), Jianzhong Zhao  (赵建中), Honglie Song  (宋洪烈), Shiwei Xu  (徐世威), Wenbo Pang  (庞文博), Xiaonan Hu  (胡笑男), Fan Zhang  (张帆), Tianqi Jin  (金天棨), Yumeng Shuai  (帅雨萌), Yu Lan  (兰宇), Renheng Bo  (柏韧恒) & Yihui Zhang  (张一慧)

  3. Institute of Solid Mechanics, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Zhaoguo Xue  (薛兆国)

Authors
  1. Ziyao Ji  (籍梓垚)
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  2. Jianzhong Zhao  (赵建中)
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  3. Honglie Song  (宋洪烈)
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  4. Shiwei Xu  (徐世威)
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  5. Wenbo Pang  (庞文博)
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  6. Xiaonan Hu  (胡笑男)
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  7. Fan Zhang  (张帆)
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  8. Tianqi Jin  (金天棨)
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  9. Yumeng Shuai  (帅雨萌)
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  10. Yu Lan  (兰宇)
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  11. Di Cheng  (程頔)
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  12. Wenwen Man  (满文文)
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  13. Renheng Bo  (柏韧恒)
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  14. Zhaoguo Xue  (薛兆国)
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  15. Yihui Zhang  (张一慧)
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Contributions

Author contributions Zhang Y, Song H, and Xue Z conceived the idea; Zhao J and Ji Z performed numerical simulations; Song H, Ji Z, Xu S, Pang W, Hu X, Zhang F, Jin T, Shuai Y, Lan Y, Cheng D, Man W, and Bo R designed and performed the fabrication and measurements of electrothermal actuators and mesoflier structures; Song H, Ji Z, and Xue Z performed the fabrication and measurements of electronic mesoflier systems; Zhang Y, Xue Z, Zhao J, Song H, and Ji Z wrote the manuscript. All authors discussed and reviewed the final version.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Honglie Song  (宋洪烈), Zhaoguo Xue  (薛兆国) or Yihui Zhang  (张一慧).

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Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Supplementary information Supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

Ziyao Ji is a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Yihui Zhang at Tsinghua University. His research interest focuses on mechanically-guided 3D assembly.

Jianzhong Zhao received his PhD degree from Shanghai University in 2021. He is now a postdoctoral fellow at Tsinghua University. His research interest focuses on mechanically-guided 3D assembly and mechanics of flexible electronics.

Honglie Song received his PhD degree from Jilin University in 2017. He is now a postdoctoral fellow at Tsinghua University. His research interest focuses on the flexible and stretchable electronics, mechanically-guided 3D assembly, and bionic sensing/perception.

Zhaoguo Xue is an associate professor at Beihang University. He received his PhD degree from Nanjing University in 2018, and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Tsinghua University from 2018 to 2020. His research interest includes mechanically-guided 3D assembly, stretchable and flexible nanoelectronics, and semiconductor nanomaterials.

Yihui Zhang is a professor at Tsinghua University. He received his PhD degree from Tsinghua University in 2011, and worked as a postdoctoral fellow from 2011 to 2014, and as a research assistant professor from 2014 to 2015, both at Northwestern University. His research interests include mechanically-guided 3D assembly, unusual soft materials, and stretchable electronics.

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Ji, Z., Zhao, J., Song, H. et al. Morphable three-dimensional electronic mesofliers capable of on-demand unfolding. Sci. China Mater. 65, 2309–2318 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-022-2007-8

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