Incredible New Crystal Transforms Light Into Mechanical Work

Jul 07, 2023

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The breakthrough could remove our need for bulky batteries—and all the thermal management that comes with it.

Almost all forms of modern consumer technology are powered by electrochemical energy, otherwise known as batteries. Lithium-ion batteries, for example, transform chemical reactions into direct current energy while also producing a few side effects (mainly heat). But what if there was another way to power gadgets—say, lasers?

That’s the idea behind new research from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and CU-Boulder. In a new study published this month in the journal Nature Materials, the team—led by chemical and electrical engineering professor Ryan Hayward—explored ways to leverage tiny crystals and directly transform light into mechanical work. At scale, such a breakthrough could remove the need for bulky batteries and all of the thermal management that comes with it.

“We cut out the middle man, so to speak, and take light energy and turn it directly into mechanical deformation,” Hayward says in a press statement.

These photomechanical crystals are embedded in a polymer material, sort of like a sponge with tiny holes. As the crystals grow in these holes, their durability and ability to produce energy increase tremendously when exposed to light. This causes the material to bend or lift objects (what Hayward describes as “deformation”), which can mimic a mechanical motor or actuator when placed under the right conditions.

And this light-powered “motor” can be impressively powerful. In one experiment, a 0.02 mg strip of crystals successfully lifted a 20 mg nylon ball. Although not a massive amount, it’s a weight that’s still 10,000 times the crystals’ own collective mass.

This is a big improvement from the team’s previous work trying to induce a photochemical reaction in crystalline solids. Because these crystals’ “high structural ordering” limited their flexibility, they often cracked when exposed to light. But microcrystals encased in a thermoplastic polymer resin are more capable of bending. Not only did this allow for more flexibility, but the material could also survive at least a hundred cycles, the study reports.

Going forward, the technology needs to be much more efficient for anyone to even begin entertaining the idea that it could usurp batteries as the go-to mobile power source. But the new material’s improved performance—compared to previous attempts—is certainly exciting to see.

“We still have a ways to go, particularly in terms of efficiency, before these materials can really compete with existing actuators,” Hayward says. “But this study is an important step in the right direction and gives us a roadmap for how we might be able to get there in the coming years.”

Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough.

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