Self-powered green energy-harvesting and sensing interfaces based on hygroscopic gel and water-locking effects

Shuai Guo; Shubham Patel; Junhui Wang; Zhen Yu; Hao Qu; Songlin Zhang; Kexin Yu; Siqi Liu; J. Justin Koh; Xue Qi Koh; Zi-En Ooi; Debbie Hwee Leng Seng; Wanxin Sun; Lin Yang; Yaoxin Zhang; John Wang; Sai Kishore Ravi; Cunjiang Yu; Swee Ching Tan

doi:10.1126/sciadv.adw5991

Self-powered green energy-harvesting and sensing interfaces based on hygroscopic gel and water-locking effects

Shuai Guo
, Shubham Patel
, Junhui Wang
, Zhen Yu
, Hao Qu
, Songlin Zhang
, Kexin Yu
, Siqi Liu
, J. Justin Koh
, Xue Qi Koh
, Zi-En Ooi
, Debbie Hwee Leng Seng
, Wanxin Sun
, Lin Yang
, Yaoxin Zhang
, John Wang
, Sai Kishore Ravi^*
, Cunjiang Yu^*
, Swee Ching Tan^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Energy and Environment

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

70 Citations (Scopus)

110 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

The rapid proliferation of flexible electronics necessitates the development of self-powered energy harvesting systems with continuous power output and sensing signal monitoring. In this study, inspired by transient voltage output (0.2 volts, <1 hour) through dipping water droplets on metal oxide substrates, a self-sustained energy harvesting and sensing interface (SEHSI, 0.32 volts, >4 days) is proposed by replacing movable water droplets with “confined” moisture, harvested and locked by a hygroscopic polymeric gel with high sorption capacity and rapid sorption-desorption kinetics. Further analysis reveals the capacitive behavior of SEHSI, leading to excellent tactile sensing capabilities with high sensitivity and rapid responsiveness, and humidity and temperature response with robust cyclic stability for over 10,000 cycles. Such all-in-one powering and sensing platforms demonstrate promising application potential in self-powered human-machine interactions, including breath status monitoring, contactless motion detection, and braille detection. Our design establishes a promising approach to developing self-powered energy harvesting and sensing systems for human-machine interfaces. © 2025 The Authors, some rights reserved.

Original language	English
Article number	eadw5991
Number of pages	12
Journal	Science Advances
Volume	11
Issue number	27
Online published	2 Jul 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adw5991
Publication status	Published - 4 Jul 2025

Funding

S.C.T. acknowledged the financial support from the Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund Tier 1 (A-0009304-00-00). S.K.R. acknowledged the financial support from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong and City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK 7020100).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Publisher's Copyright Statement

This full text is made available under CC-BY-NC 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

RGC Funding Information

RGC-funded

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10.1126/sciadv.adw5991

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Guo, S., Patel, S., Wang, J., Yu, Z., Qu, H., Zhang, S., Yu, K., Liu, S., Koh, J. J., Koh, X. Q., Ooi, Z.-E., Seng, D. H. L., Sun, W., Yang, L., Zhang, Y., Wang, J., Ravi, S. K., Yu, C., & Tan, S. C. (2025). Self-powered green energy-harvesting and sensing interfaces based on hygroscopic gel and water-locking effects. Science Advances, 11(27), Article eadw5991. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adw5991

@article{7a4d5ed631484a8fb55cf9e44c151d0c,

title = "Self-powered green energy-harvesting and sensing interfaces based on hygroscopic gel and water-locking effects",

abstract = "The rapid proliferation of flexible electronics necessitates the development of self-powered energy harvesting systems with continuous power output and sensing signal monitoring. In this study, inspired by transient voltage output (0.2 volts, <1 hour) through dipping water droplets on metal oxide substrates, a self-sustained energy harvesting and sensing interface (SEHSI, 0.32 volts, >4 days) is proposed by replacing movable water droplets with “confined” moisture, harvested and locked by a hygroscopic polymeric gel with high sorption capacity and rapid sorption-desorption kinetics. Further analysis reveals the capacitive behavior of SEHSI, leading to excellent tactile sensing capabilities with high sensitivity and rapid responsiveness, and humidity and temperature response with robust cyclic stability for over 10,000 cycles. Such all-in-one powering and sensing platforms demonstrate promising application potential in self-powered human-machine interactions, including breath status monitoring, contactless motion detection, and braille detection. Our design establishes a promising approach to developing self-powered energy harvesting and sensing systems for human-machine interfaces. {\textcopyright} 2025 The Authors, some rights reserved.",

author = "Shuai Guo and Shubham Patel and Junhui Wang and Zhen Yu and Hao Qu and Songlin Zhang and Kexin Yu and Siqi Liu and Koh, \{J. Justin\} and Koh, \{Xue Qi\} and Zi-En Ooi and Seng, \{Debbie Hwee Leng\} and Wanxin Sun and Lin Yang and Yaoxin Zhang and John Wang and Ravi, \{Sai Kishore\} and Cunjiang Yu and Tan, \{Swee Ching\}",

year = "2025",

month = jul,

day = "4",

doi = "10.1126/sciadv.adw5991",

language = "English",

volume = "11",

journal = "Science Advances",

issn = "2375-2548",

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Guo, S, Patel, S, Wang, J, Yu, Z, Qu, H, Zhang, S, Yu, K, Liu, S, Koh, JJ, Koh, XQ, Ooi, Z-E, Seng, DHL, Sun, W, Yang, L, Zhang, Y, Wang, J, Ravi, SK, Yu, C & Tan, SC 2025, 'Self-powered green energy-harvesting and sensing interfaces based on hygroscopic gel and water-locking effects', Science Advances, vol. 11, no. 27, eadw5991. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adw5991

TY - JOUR

T1 - Self-powered green energy-harvesting and sensing interfaces based on hygroscopic gel and water-locking effects

AU - Guo, Shuai

AU - Patel, Shubham

AU - Wang, Junhui

AU - Yu, Zhen

AU - Qu, Hao

AU - Zhang, Songlin

AU - Yu, Kexin

AU - Liu, Siqi

AU - Koh, J. Justin

AU - Koh, Xue Qi

AU - Ooi, Zi-En

AU - Seng, Debbie Hwee Leng

AU - Sun, Wanxin

AU - Yang, Lin

AU - Zhang, Yaoxin

AU - Wang, John

AU - Ravi, Sai Kishore

AU - Yu, Cunjiang

AU - Tan, Swee Ching

PY - 2025/7/4

Y1 - 2025/7/4

N2 - The rapid proliferation of flexible electronics necessitates the development of self-powered energy harvesting systems with continuous power output and sensing signal monitoring. In this study, inspired by transient voltage output (0.2 volts, <1 hour) through dipping water droplets on metal oxide substrates, a self-sustained energy harvesting and sensing interface (SEHSI, 0.32 volts, >4 days) is proposed by replacing movable water droplets with “confined” moisture, harvested and locked by a hygroscopic polymeric gel with high sorption capacity and rapid sorption-desorption kinetics. Further analysis reveals the capacitive behavior of SEHSI, leading to excellent tactile sensing capabilities with high sensitivity and rapid responsiveness, and humidity and temperature response with robust cyclic stability for over 10,000 cycles. Such all-in-one powering and sensing platforms demonstrate promising application potential in self-powered human-machine interactions, including breath status monitoring, contactless motion detection, and braille detection. Our design establishes a promising approach to developing self-powered energy harvesting and sensing systems for human-machine interfaces. © 2025 The Authors, some rights reserved.

AB - The rapid proliferation of flexible electronics necessitates the development of self-powered energy harvesting systems with continuous power output and sensing signal monitoring. In this study, inspired by transient voltage output (0.2 volts, <1 hour) through dipping water droplets on metal oxide substrates, a self-sustained energy harvesting and sensing interface (SEHSI, 0.32 volts, >4 days) is proposed by replacing movable water droplets with “confined” moisture, harvested and locked by a hygroscopic polymeric gel with high sorption capacity and rapid sorption-desorption kinetics. Further analysis reveals the capacitive behavior of SEHSI, leading to excellent tactile sensing capabilities with high sensitivity and rapid responsiveness, and humidity and temperature response with robust cyclic stability for over 10,000 cycles. Such all-in-one powering and sensing platforms demonstrate promising application potential in self-powered human-machine interactions, including breath status monitoring, contactless motion detection, and braille detection. Our design establishes a promising approach to developing self-powered energy harvesting and sensing systems for human-machine interfaces. © 2025 The Authors, some rights reserved.

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U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.adw5991

DO - 10.1126/sciadv.adw5991

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

C2 - 40601730

SN - 2375-2548

VL - 11

JO - Science Advances

JF - Science Advances

IS - 27

M1 - eadw5991

ER -

Self-powered green energy-harvesting and sensing interfaces based on hygroscopic gel and water-locking effects

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Publisher's Copyright Statement

RGC Funding Information

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