Customizable Twisted Nanofluidic Cellulose Fibers by Asymmetric Microfluidics for Self‐Powered Urine Monitoring

Abstract The unique selective ion‐transport characteristics of nanofluids make them applicable in energy harvesting and sensing. However, developing scalable, self‐powered nanofluidic devices remains challenging due to high cost, processing complexity, and reliance on external power sources. In this work, surface‐twisted, internally aligned algae fibers (twisted fibers) are fabricated using an asymmetric flow field to regulate the assembly process of the algae cellulose nanofibers. Unlike aligned fibers from the symmetrical process, asymmetric flow‐mediated twisted fibers exhibit a significantly reduced diameter (33.6–20.4 µm), increased packing density (0.87–1.47 g cm −3 ), superior fractured stress (249.4–468.5 MPa), and an enhanced Herman's orientation parameter (from 0.77 to 0.89). Importantly, twisted fibers demonstrate energy‐harvesting up to 12.87 W m −2 under a 50‐fold salinity gradient and can serve as self‐powered urine monitors, effectively distinguishing infants' urination from motility behaviors and alerting urine saturation due to high ionic conductivity (7.8 mS cm −1 ) at dilute electrolyte concentrations. This study provides a novel design concept for a self‐powered biomass‐based nanofluidic health sensing system.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Functional Materials
Published
2024-12-04
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202414365
Citations
17
Primary Topic
Microfluidic and Capillary Electrophoresis Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.14

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article

Customizable Twisted Nanofluidic Cellulose Fibers by Asymmetric Microfluidics for Self‐Powered Urine Monitoring

Zewan Lin, Qichun Feng, Xiaotong Fu, Zunfeng Liu et al.
17 citations
Advanced Functional Materials
Microfluidic and Capillary Electrophoresis Applications
3.14
article

Customizable Twisted Nanofluidic Cellulose Fibers by Asymmetric Microfluidics for Self‐Powered Urine Monitoring

Zewan Lin, Qichun Feng, Xiaotong Fu, Zunfeng Liu, Ke Zheng, Dongdong Ye, Shuze Zhu, Chenlu Jiao, Tingting Yang, Xiang Zhou
article en
17 citations

Abstract

Abstract The unique selective ion‐transport characteristics of nanofluids make them applicable in energy harvesting and sensing. However, developing scalable, self‐powered nanofluidic devices remains challenging due to high cost, processing complexity, and reliance on external power sources. In this work, surface‐twisted, internally aligned algae fibers (twisted fibers) are fabricated using an asymmetric flow field to regulate the assembly process of the algae cellulose nanofibers. Unlike aligned fibers from the symmetrical process, asymmetric flow‐mediated twisted fibers exhibit a significantly reduced diameter (33.6–20.4 µm), increased packing density (0.87–1.47 g cm −3 ), superior fractured stress (249.4–468.5 MPa), and an enhanced Herman's orientation parameter (from 0.77 to 0.89). Importantly, twisted fibers demonstrate energy‐harvesting up to 12.87 W m −2 under a 50‐fold salinity gradient and can serve as self‐powered urine monitors, effectively distinguishing infants' urination from motility behaviors and alerting urine saturation due to high ionic conductivity (7.8 mS cm −1 ) at dilute electrolyte concentrations. This study provides a novel design concept for a self‐powered biomass‐based nanofluidic health sensing system.

Advanced Functional MaterialsVol. 35(5)
Anhui Agricultural University (CN), China Pharmaceutical University (CN), Nankai University (CN), State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Zhejiang University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Research and Development Program of China
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 8%
Microfluidic and Capillary Electrophoresis Applications
3.14
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