Mechanical energy harvesters are needed for diverse applications, including self-powered wireless sensors, structural and human health monitoring systems, and the extraction of energy from ocean waves. We report carbon nanotube yarn harvesters that electrochemically convert tensile or torsional mechanical energy into electrical energy without requiring an external bias voltage. Stretching coiled yarns generated 250 watts per kilogram of peak electrical power when cycled up to 30 hertz, as well as up to 41.2 joules per kilogram of electrical energy per mechanical cycle, when normalized to harvester yarn weight. These energy harvesters were used in the ocean to harvest wave energy, combined with thermally driven artificial muscles to convert temperature fluctuations to electrical energy, sewn into textiles for use as self-powered respiration sensors, and used to power a light-emitting diode and to charge a storage capacitor.

Hygromorph artificial muscles are attractive as self-powered actuators driven by moisture from the ambient environment. Previously reported hygromorph muscles have been largely limited to bending or torsional motions or as tensile actuators with low work and energy densities. Herein, we developed a hybrid yarn artificial muscle with a unique coiled and wrinkled structure, which can be actuated by either changing relative humidity or contact with water. The muscle provides a large tensile stroke (up to 78%) and a high maximum gravimetric work capacity during contraction (2.17 kJ kg−1), which is over 50 times that of the same weight human muscle and 5.5 times higher than for the same weight spider silk, which is the previous record holder for a moisture driven muscle. We demonstrate an automatic ventilation system that is operated by the tensile actuation of the hybrid muscles caused by dew condensing on the hybrid yarn. This self-powered humidity-controlled ventilation system could be adapted to automatically control the desired relative humidity of an enclosed space.

The challenges of textiles that can generate and store energy simultaneously for wearable devices are to fabricate yarns that generate electrical energy when stretched, yarns that store this electrical energy, and textile geometries that facilitate these functions. To address these challenges, this research incorporates highly stretchable electrochemical yarn harvesters, where available mechanical strains are large and electrochemical energy storing yarns are achieved by weaving. The solid‐state yarn harvester provides a peak power of 5.3 W kg−1 for carbon nanotubes. The solid‐state yarn supercapacitor provides stable performance when dynamically deformed by bending and stretching, for example. A textile configuration that consists of harvesters, supercapacitors, and a Schottky diode is produced and stores as much electrical energy as is needed by a serial or parallel connection of the harvesters or supercapacitors. This textile can be applied as a power source for health care devices or other wearable devices and be self‐powered sensors for detecting human motion.

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Twisted-yarn-based artificial muscles can potentially be used in diverse applications, such as valves in microfluidic devices, smart textiles, air vehicles, and exoskeletons, because of their high torsional and tensile strokes, high work capacities, and long cycle life. Here, we demonstrate electrochemically powered, hierarchically twisted carbon nanotube yarn artificial muscles that have a contractile work capacity of 3.78 kJ/kg, which is 95 times the work capacity of mammalian skeletal muscles. This record work capacity and a tensile stroke of 15.1% were obtained by maximizing yarn capacitance by optimizing the degree of inserted twist in component yarns that are plied until fully coiled. These electrochemically driven artificial muscles can be operated in reverse as mechanical energy harvesters that need no externally applied bias. In aqueous sodium chloride electrolyte, a peak electrical output power of 0.65 W/kg of energy harvester was generated by 1 Hz sinusoidal elongation.