Presentation: 2025 ND EPSCoR Annual conference
October 21, 2025, NDSU Memorial Union, Fargo, North Dakota
Droplet-Induced Voltage Generation in MXenes
Madushi
Wijesingha
Doctoral Student
North Dakota State University
Co-authors: Jacob Peterson, MS Student, North Dakota State University, Md Mahamud Hasan Tusher, Doctoral Student, North Dakota State University, Danling Wang, Associate Professor, North Dakota State University, Yechun Wang, Associate Professor, North Dakota State University
Session
Poster number: 49
Ballroom
Sliding electrolyte droplets on the surface of two-dimensional materials have recently been found to generate measurable voltages, with promising applications in energy harvesting, biomechanical sensing, and fluidic motion tracking. Most prior studies typically examine the influence of droplet falling height at large release heights, whereas wearable, portable, or implantable devices require guided motion near the substrate. Here we present a preliminary study of droplet-induced open-circuit potentials (OCP) on silicon dioxide glass slides coated with a newly synthesized MXene. Sodium chloride (NaCl) droplets were released to slide down inclined MXene-coated substrates while the OCP was recorded using a Gamry Reference 620 electrochemical workstation. We examined the influence of droplet size and the number of MXene layers on the voltage generation at an inclination angle of 60°. The highest peak OCP observed was 0.656 mV for a double-layer film with a 20 μL droplet of 0.6M NaCl. These results support the feasibility of MXene interfaces for near-surface electrokinetic sensing with potential use in health monitoring, human-machine interaction, and microfluidic diagnostics. Ongoing work focuses on stabilizing the output by refining droplet delivery, optimizing surface and material processing, and quantifying variability, repeatability, and durability across trials and materials.