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One 3D aerogel wearable pressure sensor with ultrahigh sensitivity, wide working range, low detection limit for voice recognition and physiological signal monitoring

具有超高灵敏度、宽工作范围、低检测限的3D气凝 胶可穿戴压力传感器用于语音识别和生理信号监测

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Abstract

With the rapid development of intelligent electronic devices, there is a growing demand for wearable pressure sensors with ultrahigh sensitivity, a wide working range, and a low detection limit simultaneously. In this paper, we create a piezoresistive pressure sensor with an ultralight (29.5 mg cm−3) and elastic three-dimensional (3D) chitosan/MXene (CS/MXene) composite aerogel. Because of the strong electrostatic attraction between CS and MXene, CS/MXene aerogels with good mechanical properties can be obtained in a single freeze-drying step with no additional chemical treatment. Furthermore, the abundant amino and carboxyl groups in CS form hydrogen bonds with the −O and −F groups on the surface of MXene, significantly improving the mechanical strength of the composite aerogel. As a result, the CS/MXene composite aerogel sensor has a sensitivity of 709.38 kPa−1 in small pressure region (<1 kPa) and 252.37 kPa−1 in large pressure region (1–20 kPa), which are the highest values reported among the same type of aerogel sensors in the same pressure ranges. Furthermore, the sensor has a fast response time (120 ms), an ultralow detection limit of 1.4 Pa, and good stability (10,000 cycles with almost no fatigue). Because of the improved sensitivity, the competitive aerogel sensor can be used in a voice recognition system that can distinguish between different audio components. It also shows promise in detecting human and animal physiological signals ranging from low to high pressure and mapping spatial pressure distributions.

摘要

随着智能电子设备的快速发展, 对同时具有超高灵敏度、宽工 作范围、低检测限的可穿戴压力传感器的需求越来越大. 本文开发了 一种基于超轻(29.5 mg cm−3)和弹性的3D壳聚糖/MXene (CS/MXene) 复合气凝胶的压阻式压力传感器. 由于CS和MXene之间的强静电吸引 力, 具有良好机械性能的CS/MXene气凝胶只需一步冷冻干燥即可获 得, 无需额外的化学处理. CS/MXene复合气凝胶压力传感器在小压力 区(< 1 k Pa) 和大压力区(1–20 k Pa) 的灵敏度分别为709.38 和 252.37 kPa−1. 在此压力范围下, 其灵敏度是目前报道的同类型气凝胶压 力传感器的最高值. 此外, 该传感器具有快速的响应时间 (<120 ms)、1.4 Pa的超低检测限以及10,000次循环后几乎无衰减的良 好稳定性. 以上出色的性能不仅使得该传感器可用于检测肢体活动和 空间压力分布等较大幅度的压力信号, 而且还能准确检测脉搏、语音 等微小压力信号. 这种多功能的柔性压力传感器极大地拓宽了可穿戴 电子器件在语音识别、健康监测和人机交互等诸多领域的应用范围.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61874007, 12074028, and 52102152), Shandong Provincial Major Scientific and Technological Innovation Project (2019JZZY010209), the Key-area Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province (2020B010172001), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (buctrc201802, buctrc201830, and buctrc202127), and Beijing Outstanding Young Scientist Program (BJJWZYJH01201910010024).

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  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Laboratory of Biomedical Materials and Key Lab of Biomedical Materials of Natural Macromolecules (Ministry of Education), Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China

    Chengshuo Shang  (尚成硕), Xiangtian He  (何翔天), Xiaodi Li  (李晓迪), Xiaokang Ding  (丁小康), Jicai Zhang  (张纪才) & Fu-Jian Xu  (徐福建)

  2. College of Mathematics and Physics, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China

    Zerui Liu  (刘泽瑞), Yuxiang Song  (宋玉祥), Yulin Zhang  (张玉林), Xu Li  (李旭), Yong Lu  (鲁勇), Ting Liu  (刘婷) & Jicai Zhang  (张纪才)

Authors
  1. Chengshuo Shang  (尚成硕)
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  2. Xiangtian He  (何翔天)
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Contributions

Shang C and Xu FJ conceived the idea. Xu FJ, Zhang J, and Liu T supervised the project. Shang C and He X performed the experiments. Shang C, He X, Li X, and Liu Z analyzed the data. Song Y and Lu Y contributed to the device simulation. Shang C and Liu T wrote the manuscript with support from Zhang J and Xu FJ. All authors contributed to the general discussion.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ting Liu  (刘婷), Jicai Zhang  (张纪才) or Fu-Jian Xu  (徐福建).

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Supplementary information

Supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

Chengshuo Shang received his BE degree from Beijing Technology and Business University, China, in 2019. Now, he is a graduate student under the supervision of Prof. Jicai Zhang and Prof. Fu-Jian Xu at Beijing University of Chemical Technology. His current research interests focus on the study of wearable electronic devices.

Xiangtian He is a graduate student under the supervision of Prof. Jicai Zhang and Prof. Fu-Jian Xu at Beijing University of Chemical Technology. His research interests focus on wearable and flexible sensors.

Ting Liu received her PhD degree in microelectronics and solid-state electronics in July 2018 from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Then, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Nagoya University and the National Institute of Materials Science, Japan. She is now an associate professor in mathematics and physics at Beijing University of Chemical Technology. Her current research interests include the development of new wearable electronic devices, the growth of semiconductor materials, the development of piezoelectric optical/electronic devices, and simulation.

Jicai Zhang is a professor at Beijing University of Chemical Technology. In 2005, he received his PhD degree in microelectronics and solid-state electronics from the Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He worked at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Israel, Nagoya Institute of Technology and Mie University in Japan, and Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, CAS in China, from 2005 to 2017. He has been a professor of Beijing University of Chemical Technology since 2017. His current research interests include group-III nitride semiconductors and wearable electronic devices.

Fu-Jian Xu is a professor of Beijing University of Chemical Technology. In 2006, he received his PhD degree in biomolecular engineering from the National University of Singapore. In 2009, he was appointed professor at Beijing University of Chemical Technology, China. He was awarded the National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars (2013) and Cheung Kong Distinguished Professorship (Ministry of Education of China, 2014). His research interests are centered on functional bio-macromolecules.

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One 3D aerogel wearable pressure sensor with ultrahigh sensitivity, wide working range, low detection limit for voice recognition and physiological signal monitoring

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Shang, C., He, X., Li, X. et al. One 3D aerogel wearable pressure sensor with ultrahigh sensitivity, wide working range, low detection limit for voice recognition and physiological signal monitoring. Sci. China Mater. 66, 1911–1922 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-022-2307-6

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