Issue 22, 2021

A remarkably ultra-sensitive large area matrix of MXene based multifunctional physical sensors (pressure, strain, and temperature) for mimicking human skin

Abstract

Electronic skin has attracted a lot of interest in recent years due to its ability to mimic human skin and also its excellent conformability. Even though there are reports on electronic skin, the major issue that still needs to be resolved is achieving multifunctional sensing at the same time as ultra-high sensitivity. Hence, there is an immediate requirement to develop inexpensive, highly sensitive, and superior performance piezoresistive multifunctional sensors that mimic skin. Herein, an as synthesized pure MXene (Ti3C2Tx) colloidal solution was used to deposit a thin film on flexible polyurethane foam, forming a three-dimensional conductive network with an ultra-high sensitivity of ∼34.24 kPa−1 (1.477–3.185 kPa of applied pressure range) and an elevated gauge factor of ∼323.59 (5–20% of applied strain range). Further merits such as reproducibility, low cost, high scalability, and excellent stability after 2500 cycles imply the sturdiness of the fabricated device. The remarkable sensing efficiency can be attributed to the strong interaction of Ti3C2Tx and PU foam, the inherent 3D network of PU coupled with the excellent electrical properties of Ti3C2Tx, and the interconnection of the unconnected branches present in the internal framework of PU-foam, which indicates the existence of more conduction paths. Besides, the fabricated Ti3C2Tx was deposited on cellulose paper to be utilized as a temperature sensor which displayed ∼2.22 × 10−3 °C−1 TCR and 29.43 meV activation energy. Lastly, real time applications for the fabricated device are investigated including detecting an unknown position of an object and human gestures. The successful demonstration of the low-cost, flexible Ti3C2Tx based piezoresistive sensor has shown innovative applications in biomedical, security, educational, and health sectors.

Graphical abstract: A remarkably ultra-sensitive large area matrix of MXene based multifunctional physical sensors (pressure, strain, and temperature) for mimicking human skin

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 เม.ย. 2564
Accepted
13 พ.ค. 2564
First published
13 พ.ค. 2564

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2021,9, 4523-4534

A remarkably ultra-sensitive large area matrix of MXene based multifunctional physical sensors (pressure, strain, and temperature) for mimicking human skin

V. Adepu, V. Mattela and P. Sahatiya, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2021, 9, 4523 DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00947H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements