Bioinspired self-adaptive thermoelectric device with hydrogen-bonding-enhanced robustness

In nature, many organisms can adapt to environmental changes. For instance, the leaves of Mimosa pudica fold inward when physically touched. Inspired by such behaviors, researchers have developed various shape-memory materials that undergo reversible deformations in response to external stimuli such as light, heat, and humidity. However, these materials often lack additional functionalities. For smart materials to effectively adapt to complex environments, they must not only respond to stimuli but also sense environmental changes. In current flexible electronic devices, sensors and actuators are typically separate components, leading to challenges such as delayed feedback, additional integration requirements, and complex interfaces. Thus, designing electronic devices that seamlessly integrate both sensing and deformation capabilities remains a significant challenge.

Sea anemones exhibit a combination of perception and movement by coordinating two types of cells, allowing for fully autonomous, closed-loop decision-making to protect themselves in certain situations. Sensory cells detect environmental information, while muscle cells regulate movement. It is plausible that by carefully designing materials and structures, integrating sensing materials with shape-memory materials could replicate this adaptive behavior in artificial systems.

In terms of smart sensing, the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) has driven modern flexible electronic devices toward greater convenience and multifunctionality, with applications in human-computer interaction, the metaverse, and healthcare. However, most wearable electronic devices still rely on integrating multiple single-function sensors to achieve multifunctional detection, resulting in costly integration processes or complex structural designs. Alternatively, some sensors generate identical electrical signals for different stimuli, creating challenges in signal decoupling. To meet practical application needs, developing a single material capable of multifunctional sensing is imperative.

Thermoelectric films based on the Seebeck effect can effectively convert temperature gradients into voltage signals, offering advantages such as flexibility, miniaturization, and portability. By generating distinct signals, with voltage representing temperature variations and resistance indicating pressure, they enable effective decoupling of these two stimuli. This unique capability makes them highly promising for a wide range of applications.

In this work, the researchers propose a sea-anemone-inspired intelligent thermoelectric device (ITED) that achieves synergistic actuation and sensing with thermal self-adaptation. The ITED consists of two primary components: a thermally actuated section made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and polyimide (PI) with differing thermal expansion coefficients, and a sensing unit composed of tellurium nanowires (Te NWs), conductive polymer (CP), and bacterial cellulose (BC). The device is capable of detecting temperatures across a wide range (−120 to 150 °C). When exposed to excessive heat, it activates a self-protection mechanism by bending away from the heat source to prevent damage, functioning as a thermal protection switch or fire alarm. In addition, the device operates through a dual-mode sensing mechanism, in which temperature variations generate voltage signals while mechanical pressure induces resistance changes. This enables the ITED to detect object temperature, thermal proximity, applied force, and related stimuli such as wind and vibration. The researchers believe that combining deformation capability with multimodal sensing offers a promising new direction for the development of intelligent electronic devices.

The team published their work in Nano Research on December 22, 2025.

Contributors include Feng-Qi Xu, Cheng Chen, Jie-Long Xu, Xin-Lin Li, and Jian-Wei Liu from the State Key Laboratory of Precision and Intelligent Chemistry at University of Science and Technology of China in Anhui, China; and Rongzhuang Song, Bo Li, Heng-An Wu, Yin-Bo Zhu from the CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials at University of Science and Technology of China.

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22175164, 12232016, and 12172346), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDB0450402), the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (No. 2022465), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. WK2090000087), and the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) Tang Scholar. This work was partially carried out at the Center for Micro and Nanoscale Research and Fabrication, USTC, also at the Instruments Center for Physical Science, USTC. The AI-driven experiments, simulations, and model training were performed on the robotic AI-Scientist platform of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

DOI Link:

https://doi.org/10.26599/NR.2025.94908257

About Nano Research

Nano Research is a peer-reviewed, open access, international and interdisciplinary research journal, sponsored by Tsinghua University and the Chinese Chemical Society, published by Tsinghua University Press on the platform SciOpen. It publishes original high-quality research and significant review articles on all aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology, ranging from basic aspects of the science of nanoscale materials to practical applications of such materials. After 18 years of development, it has become one of the most influential academic journals in the nano field. Nano Research has published more than 1,000 papers every year from 2022, with its cumulative count surpassing 8,000 articles. In 2025 InCites Journal Citation Reports, its 2025 IF is 9.4 (8.3, 5 years), and it continues to be the Q1 area among the four subject classifications. Nano Research Award, established by Nano Research together with TUP and Springer Nature in 2013, and Nano Research Young Innovators (NR45) Awards, established by Nano Research in 2018, have become international academic awards with global influence.