Discontinuous streaming potential via liquid gate

Streaming potential is mainly related to electrokinetic energy conversion, which has been considered to show promising potential for advanced technologies, especially sensing. The inherent property of streaming potential is that the energy conversion process is always a continuous state. However, practical applications include many cases of discontinuous states, such as nonlinear sensing. Here, we report a discontinuous streaming potential electrokinetic energy conversion fluid system. Experiments and theoretical calculations reveal that this system exhibits a discontinuous electrokinetic effect and provides a gating liquid slip in micropores, offering the advantages of gating liquid charge coupling and interfacial drag reduction. Moreover, the system is demonstrated in a wearable fall-down alert application. We expect this liquid gating energy conversion system to open up a platform for the design and application of autonomous health monitoring devices, seismic sea wave warning systems, and beyond.