posted on 2015-04-29, 00:00authored byRong Tang, Ziyi Liu, Dandan Xu, Jian Liu, Li Yu, Haifeng Yu
For converting light energy into
electricity, an optical pendulum
generator was designed by combining photomechanical movement of liquid-crystalline
actuator (LCA) with Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction.
Bilayer cantilever actuators were first fabricated with LDPE and LCA.
Their photomechanical movement drove the attached copper coils to
cut magnetic line of force generating electricity. The output electricity
was proportional to the changing rate of the magnetic flux, which
was greatly influenced by light intensity, film thickness, and sample
size. Continuous electrical output was also achieved. This simple
strategy may expand applications of photoactive materials in the capture
and storage of light energy.