Machine Learning Accelerated Discovery of Functional MXenes with Giant Piezoelectric Coefficients.

Efficient and rapid screening of target materials in a vast material space remains a significant challenge in the field of materials science. In this study, first-principles calculations and machine learning algorithms are performed to search for high out-of-plane piezoelectric stress coefficient materials in the MXene functional database among the 1757 groups of noncentrosymmetric MXenes with nonzero band gaps, which meet the criteria for piezoelectric properties. For the monatomic MXene testing set, the random forest regression (RFR), gradient boosting regression (GBR), support vector regression (SVR), and multilayer perceptron regression (MLPR) exhibit R2 values of 0.80, 0.80, 0.89, and 0.87, respectively. Expanding our analysis to the entire MXene data set, the best active learning cycle finds more than 140 and 22 MXenes with out-of-plane piezoelectric stress coefficients (e31) exceeding 3 × 10-10 and 5 × 10-10 C/m, respectively. Moreover, thermodynamic stabilities were confirmed in 22 MXenes with giant piezoelectric stress coefficients and 9 MXenes with both large in-plane (d11 > 15 pm/V) and out-of-plane (d31 > 2 pm/V) piezoelectric strain coefficients. These findings highlight the remarkable capabilities of machine learning and its optimization algorithms in accelerating the discovery of novel piezoelectric materials, and MXene materials emerge as highly promising candidates for piezoelectric materials.

Thermal Stress Analysis and Control Method for Surface Acoustic Wave Atomizer.

To prevent the potential failure of the surface acoustic wave (SAW) atomizer caused by the concentration of thermal stresses, this study investigates the thermal elevation process inherent to the operation of the surface wave atomizer. Subsequently, a method for temperature regulation is proposed. By collecting the temperature rise data of SAW atomizers with water, olive oil, and glycerol at 5/6/7 Watts (W) of power, the temperature curves of the atomizer surface under different conditions are obtained, and the stress changes in the working process are simulated additionally. The results indicate that although the stress generated by surface acoustic wave atomizers varies for different media, there is always a problem of rapid heating during the initial working stage in all cases. To address the above issues, this study analyzed the time when the maximum stress occurred and proposed control methods based on experimental data. The simulation results show that by controlling the driving power within 4 s after the start of atomization, the problem of excessive stress during the heating stage can be avoided. Finally, the feasibility of the control method was verified through a simple power control method (limiting the driving power to 3 W in the first 2 s), proving that this method can effectively reduce the thermal stress during the working process of the atomizer and prevent the atomizer from cracking.

All-inorganic halide perovskite CsPbBr3: a DFT study of a self-powered formaldehyde sensor.

The high surface activity and large specific surface area of metal halide perovskite materials create favorable conditions for improving the sensitivity and selectivity of gas sensors. Meanwhile, the high photoelectric conversion efficiency makes perovskite materials the best candidates for new self-powered gas sensing systems. Therefore, the adsorption mechanism of several volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on CsPbX3 (X = Cl, Br, and I) surfaces was investigated based on first-principles calculations and the non-equilibrium Green's function, including C2H6, CH4, CH3OH, and CH2O. The results show that CsPbBr3 (CPB) has excellent gas-sensing properties for CH2O molecules. The current-voltage (I-V) curves indicate that the transport properties of CH2O after adsorption on the CPB surface had a clear response. Moreover, the good mechanical response makes the adsorption process reversible and provides the possibility for flexible devices. Finally, the good absorption spectrum lays the foundation for the application of CPB in photovoltaic (PV) self-powered sensors. Therefore, we predict that CPB is expected to be a candidate for a CH2O gas sensor with high sensitivity and selectivity.

Pentagonal CmXnY6-m-n (m = 2, 3; n = 1, 2; X, Y = B, N, Al, Si, P) Monolayers: Janus Ternaries Combine Omnidirectional Negative Poisson Ratios with Giant Piezoelectric Effects.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials composed of pentagon and Janus motifs usually exhibit unique mechanical and electronic properties. In this work, a class of ternary carbon-based 2D materials, CmXnY6-m-n (m = 2, 3; n = 1, 2; X, Y = B, N, Al, Si, P), are systematically studied by first-principles calculations. Six of 21 Janus penta-CmXnY6-m-n monolayers are dynamically and thermally stable. The Janus penta-C2B2Al2 and Janus penta-Si2C2N2 exhibit auxeticity. More strikingly, Janus penta-Si2C2N2 exhibits an omnidirectional negative Poisson ratio (NPR) with values ranging from -0.13 to -0.15; in other words, it is auxetic under stretch in any direction. The calculations of piezoelectricity reveal that the out-of-plane piezoelectric strain coefficient (d32) of Janus panta-C2B2Al2 is up to 0.63 pm/V and increases to 1 pm/V after a strain engineering. These omnidirectional NPR, giant piezoelectric coefficients endow the Janus pentagonal ternary carbon-based monolayers as potential candidates in the future nanoelectronics, especially in the electromechanical devices.

One-step laser synthesis platinum nanostructured 3D porous graphene: A flexible dual-functional electrochemical biosensor for glucose and pH detection in human perspiration.

There has been a recent increase in the demand for wearable sensors for sweat glucose monitoring to facilitate diabetes management in a patient-friendly and non-invasive manner. To address this issue, the key challenge lies in the design of flexible sensors with high conductivity, miniaturized patterning, and environmental friendliness. Herein, we introduce a flexible electrochemical sensing system for glucose and pH detection based on one-step laser-scribed PtNPs nanostructured 3D porous laser-scribed graphene (LSG). The as-prepared nanocomposites can synchronously possess hierarchical porous graphene architectures, whereas PtNPs can significantly enhance their sensitivity and electrocatalytic activity. Benefiting from these advantages, the fabricated Pt-HEC/LSG biosensor exhibited a high sensitivity of 69.64 µA mM-1 cm-2 as well as a low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.23 µM at a detection range of 5-3000 µM (covering the glucose range in sweat). Moreover, the pH sensor was functionalized with polyaniline (PANI) on a Pt-HEC/LSG electrode, and it also exhibited high sensitivity (72.4 mV/pH) in the linear range of pH 4-8. The feasibility of the biosensor was confirmed by analyzing human perspiration during physical exercise. This dual-functional electrochemical biosensor displayed excellent performance, including a low detection limit, high selectivity, and great flexibility. These results confirm that the proposed dual-functional flexible electrode and fabrication process are highly promising for application in human sweat-based electrochemical glucose and pH sensors.

High-performance self-powered integrated system of pressure sensor and supercapacitor based on Cu@Cu2O/graphitic carbon layered porous structure.

With the rapid development of human-machine technology, self-powered pressure sensor integrated systems have been extensively studied. However, there are only a few reports on such multifunctional devices using a single active material. In this work, we report a flexible integrated system, which consists of flexible pressure sensors and supercapacitors. Both of the devices were fabricated based on layered porous Cu@Cu2O/graphitic carbon (Cu@Cu2O/GC) composites, which were obtained by a one-step simple polymer heat treatment method. Due to the discontinuous conductive paths and effective stress concentration relief in the composite, the pressure sensor shows a high sensitivity of 90 kPa-1 in a wide working range of 0-150 kPa, a fast response time of 90 ms, and a detection limit of 2.4 Pa. Moreover, the layered porous structure Cu@Cu2O/GC can not only maintain the integrity of the electrode material, but also promote the diffusion of electrons, enabling super capacitors to obtain excellent electrochemical performance. The specific capacitance of the super capacitor is 17.8 mF cm-2. More importantly, the flexible self-powered integrated system could be directly attached to the human body to detect human motions, showing its great potential application in wearable devices.

Laser-scribed phosphorus-doped graphene derived from Kevlar textile for enhanced wearable micro-supercapacitor.

The development of wearable electronics has facilitated the growth of flexible energy storage systems, including micro-supercapacitors (MSCs). Thus, it is urgent to fabricate MSCs with both excellent mechanical strength and electrochemical performance. In this work, P-enriched laser-induced graphene (LIG) is fabricated for the first time on Kevlar textiles via the one-step laser direct writing process. Laser engraving is employed on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/H3PO4-coated Kevlar to obtain porous graphene and simultaneously in-situ dope phosphorus in pure LIG. The unreacted gel dopant could be removed by washing in hot water because of the thermal solubility of PVA, therefore the Janus LIG/Kevlar textiles keep well flexible and skin-friendly. Moreover, the phosphorus-doped LIG has optimized porous morphology compared to pure LIG, which benefits the interface between electrolyte and electrodes. The introduction of phosphorus contributes to the electrochemical performance attributed to the optimized porous morphology and pseudocapacitance brought by phosphorus doping. The obtained in-plane MSCs (PMSC-4) on Kevlar textiles present a high areal capacitance of 125.35 mF cm-2, good cycling stability (over 88% during 10,000 cycles), and flexibility. This work provides a facial and scalable method firstly to fabricate and optimize heteroatom-doping MSCs on Kevlar, showing potential for wearable electronics and electronic textiles.

One-pot hydrothermal synthesis of Si-doped carbon quantum dots with up-conversion fluorescence as fluorescent probes for dual-readout detection of berberine hydrochloride.

Here, the high fluorescent silicon-doped carbon quantum dots (Si-CQDs) were prepared by a facile and one-pot hydrothermal assay using 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane as the carbon and silicon source. The prepared Si-CQDs exhibit favorable water-soluble, high-temperature resistance, acid resistance, alkali resistance, high ionic strength resistance, high photostability, film-forming ability and solid-state fluorescence. Compared to other Si-CQDs that have been reported, the prepared Si-CQDs show unique up-conversion fluorescence. Furthermore, it is found that berberine hydrochloride (BH) can effectively quench the down- and up-conversion fluorescence of the Si-CQDs, making it can be used as a highly sensitive and specific probe for BH dual-mode sensing. Meanwhile, the linear range of down-conversion fluorescence detection for BH is 0.5-30.0 µmol/L with a limit of detection (LOD) of 50 nmol/L, and the linear range of up-conversion fluorescence assay for BH is 0-25.0 µmol/L. The mechanism of down-conversion fluorescence quenching by BH was investigated through a series of studies. The results show the quenching mechanism is the inner filter effect (IFE). Moreover, this proposed strategy has been well used to analyze BH in urine samples with satisfactory results.

A highly sensitive dual-readout assay for perfluorinated compounds based CdTe quantum dots.

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) are two typical perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) that poss potential ecological toxicity. In this work, a fluorescence and resonance light scattering (RLS) dual-readout strategy for the detection of PFCs at picomole level based on the water-soluble CdTe quantum dots (CdTe QDs) has been proposed. It is found that the CdTe QDs exhibit a quenching in the presence of PFCs and thus serve as useful probes for PFCs. The linear ranges are 0.032-10.0 nM with a limit of detection(LOD) of 32.02 pM for PFOA and 0.044-15.0 nM with a LOD of 43.96 pM for PFOS, respectively. Meanwhile, PFCs can form complexes with CdTe QDs in acid medium, resulting in remarkable RLS signals. The enhanced RLS intensities are in proportion to the concentrations of PFOA and PFOS, respectively. And the linear ranges are 0.048-5.0 nM with a LOD of 47.78 pM for PFOA, and 0.057-5.0 nM with a LOD of 56.72 pM for PFOS, respectively. This dual-mode detection increases the reliability of the measurement. The proposed method is simple, sensitive and cost-effective, with potential applications in environmental monitoring and assessment.

Laser In-Situ synthesis of metallic cobalt decorated porous graphene for flexible In-Plane microsupercapacitors.

Transition metal nanoparticles-graphene nanocomposites incorporate the advantages of graphene and metal nanoparticles, which arouse extensive attention. Here, we design a novel, facile and versatile method for in-situ synthesis of laser-induced porous graphene (LIG) decorated with cobalt particles (Co). The LIG/Co nanocomposites are fabricated through one-step laser direct scribing on a customized film composed of polyimide (PI) powder, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and cobalt chloride (CoCl2·6H2O) precursors. Benefiting from the unique properties of Co nanoparticles embedded LIG, the obtained optimal in-plane micro-supercapacitors (IMSC) based on LIG/Co-1.5 possesses an excellent areal capacitance of 110.11 mF cm-2 and a superior energy density of 9.79 µWh cm-2, which are about 79 times that of pure LIG-based IMSCs. Simultaneously, the LIG/Co-1.5 MSCs also present good cycling stability, remarkable modular integration capability, and outstanding mechanical flexibility, showing potential for practical applications. Additionally, the density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that the decorating of cobalt particles elevates electron transfer. Moreover, the interaction between electrolyte and electrodes is also improved with the introduction of cobalt particles. Therefore, this strategy offers a new avenue for facile and large-scale manufacturing of various metallic atoms in-situ decorating in porous graphene.

Novel Braceletlike BiSbX3 (X = S, Se) Monolayers with an In-Plane Negative Poisson's Ratio and Anisotropic Photoelectric Properties.

In this work, we predict two novel two-dimensional (2D) auxetic materials, BiSbX3 (X = S, Se) monolayers, through first-principles calculations. Attributed to their special braceletlike structure, the in-plane negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) of BiSbS3 and BiSbSe3 monolayers are as high as -0.25 and -0.26, respectively. The phonon dispersion calculations, ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, and elastic constants calculations demonstrate that these two monolayers possess excellent dynamic, thermal, and mechanical stabilities. The band gap values of BiSbS3 and BiSbSe3 calculated at the HSE level by considering the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) effect are 1.68 and 1.20 eV. The anisotropic carrier mobility and superior optical absorption indicate that they may shine in the next generation of electronic and optoelectronic devices. All of these discoveries not only enrich the types of auxetic materials but also provide a structural reference for designing new auxetic materials on the molecular level. Furthermore, they can provide theoretical guidance for future applications of BiSbX3 (X = S, Se) monolayers in various fields.

Theoretical investigations of novel Janus Pb2SSe monolayer as a potential multifunctional material for piezoelectric, photovoltaic, and thermoelectric applications.

Two-dimensional Janus nanomaterials, due to their unique electronic, optical, and piezoelectric characteristics resulting from the antisymmetric structures, exhibit great prospects in multifunctional energy application to alleviate the energy crisis. Monolayer Janus Pb2SSe, with a black phosphorus-like structure and an indirect band gap of 1.59 eV as well as high carrier mobility (526-2105 cm2 V-1 s-1), displays outstanding potentials in the energy conversion between nanomechanical energy, solar energy, waste heat, and electricity, which has been comprehensively studied utilizing DFT-based simulations. The research results reveal that monolayer Pb2SSe not only possesses giant in-plane piezoelectricity of d11 = 75.1 pm V-1 but also superhigh out-of-plane piezoelectric coefficients (d31 = 0.5 pm V-1 and d33 = 15.7 pm V-1). Meanwhile, by constructing Pb2SSe bilayers, the out-of-plane piezoelectric coefficients can be significantly enhanced (d31 = 19.2 pm V-1 and d33 = 194.7 pm V-1). In addition, owing to the small conduction band offset, suitable donor band gap and excellent light absorption capability in the Pb2SSe/SnSe (Pb2SSe/GeSe) heterostructure, the power conversion efficiencies were calculated to be up to 20.02% (Pb2SSe/SnSe) and 19.28% (Pb2SSe/GeSe), making it a promising candidate for solar energy collection. Furthermore, from the thermoelectric electron and phonon transport calculations, it can be found that the Pb2SSe monolayer is an n-type thermoelectric material with ultrahigh ZT = 2.19 (1.52) at room temperature, which can be traced back to its ultralow κL = 0.78 (0.99) W m-1 K-1, and superhigh PF = 10.18 (8.25) mW m-1 K-2 along the x(y) direction at the optimal doping concentration at 300 K. The abovementioned versatile characteristics in the Janus Pb2SSe monolayer, along with its comprehensive stabilities (energy, dynamic, thermal, and mechanical stabilities), highlight its potential in clean energy harvesting.

Highly adjustable piezoelectric properties in two-dimensional LiAlTe2by strain and stacking.

Two-dimensional (2D) piezoelectric materials have attracted wide attention because they are of great significance to the composition of piezoelectric nanogenerators. In this work, we have systematically studied the piezoelectric properties of 2D LiAlTe2by using the first-principles calculation and found the 2D LiAlTe2monolayer exhibits both large in-plane piezoelectric coefficientd11(3.73 pm V-1) and out-of-plane piezoelectric coefficientd31(0.97 pm V-1). Moreover, the piezoelectric coefficients of 2D LiAlTe2are highly tunable by strain and stacking. When different uniaxial strains are applied,d11changes dramatically, butd31changes little. When 2% stretching is applied to 2D LiAlTe2monolayer along thex-axis,d11reaches 7.80 pm V-1, which is twice as large as the previously reported 2D piezoelectric material MoS2. Both AA stacking and AB stacking can enhance the piezoelectric properties of 2D LiAlTe2, but they have different effects on in-plane and out-of-plane piezoelectric coefficients. AA stacking can greatly increased31but has little impact ond11. In the case of four-layer AA stacking, thed31reaches 3.32 pm V-1. AB stacking can both increased11andd31, butd11grows faster thand31as the number of layers increases. In the case of four-layer AB stacking,d11reaches 18.05 pm V-1. The excellent and highly tunable piezoelectric performance provides 2D LiAlTe2greater potential for the application of piezoelectric nano-generators and other micro-nano piezoelectric devices.

Gas-Sensing Properties of Cu2S-MoSe2 Nanosheets to NO2 and NH3 Gases.

Cu2S-MoSe2 was selected as a gas-sensing material to detect NO2 and NH3. Based on density functional theory calculations, the adsorption structures, density of states, molecular orbit, and recovery time were studied to analyze the gas-sensing mechanism of Cu2S-MoSe2 to gases. Calculation results show that Cu2S clusters receive a stable doping structure on the MoSe2 surface. Compared with intrinsic MoSe2, Cu2S-MoSe2 shows more excellent adsorption performance to NO2 and NH3 due to the active feature of the Cu2S dopant. After NO2 and NH3 adsorption, the energy gap decreases, indicating an improvement of the conductivity, which is greatly significant for gas sensing. For double NH3 adsorption, the conductivity of the entire system increases more than that of a double NO2 adsorption system, signifying the sensitivity of Cu2S-MoSe2 is greater for NH3 than NO2. The results of theoretical recovery time show that Cu2S-MoSe2 is sensitive for NH3 detection at room temperature (298 K) and NO2 detection at high temperature (400 K).

Facile and Scalable Fabrication of High-Performance Microsupercapacitors Based on Laser-Scribed In Situ Heteroatom-Doped Porous Graphene.

This study proposes an efficient, facile, and scalable strategy to synthesize in situ heteroatom-doped porous graphene via laser direct writing on the precursor-doped polyimide (PI) film, which is fabricated for the first time through incorporating PI powder and precursors with sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) binder by a drop-casting and low-temperature drying process. The resulting microsupercapacitors (MSCs) based on the as-prepared heteroatom-doped porous graphene exhibit remarkable capacitive performance. The typical boron-doped MSC prepared on borax-doped polyimide film possesses an ultrahigh areal capacitance of 60.6 mF cm-2 at 0.08 mA cm-2, which is approximately 20 times larger than that of undoped MSC. Furthermore, the boron-doped MSC has impressive cycling stability (with the capacitance retention of 96.3% after 20 000 cycles), exceptional mechanical flexibility, tunable capacitance, and voltage output through arbitrary modular serial and parallel integration. Besides, the nitrogen-doped porous graphene with excellent capacitive performance is also prepared by laser direct scribing on the sulfonated melamine-doped polyimide film, demonstrating excellent scalability and generality of this strategy. Hence, one-step laser direct writing on precursor-doped polyimide films can realize in situ heteroatom doping and generation of hierarchical porous graphene electrodes simultaneously, which opens a new avenue for the facile, cost-effective, and scalable fabrication of heteroatom-doped porous graphene, thus promising for MSCs and various flexible and wearable electronics at large-scale production.

Sea urchin-like microstructure pressure sensors with an ultra-broad range and high sensitivity.

Sensitivity and pressure range are two significant parameters of pressure sensors. Existing pressure sensors have difficulty achieving both high sensitivity and a wide pressure range. Therefore, we propose a new pressure sensor with a ternary nanocomposite Fe2O3/C@SnO2. The sea urchin-like Fe2O3 structure promotes signal transduction and protects Fe2O3 needles from mechanical breaking, while the acetylene carbon black improves the conductivity of Fe2O3. Moreover, one part of the SnO2 nanoparticles adheres to the surfaces of Fe2O3 needles and forms Fe2O3/SnO2 heterostructures, while its other part disperses into the carbon layer to form SnO2@C structure. Collectively, the synergistic effects of the three structures (Fe2O3/C, Fe2O3/SnO2 and SnO2@C) improves on the limited pressure response range of a single structure. The experimental results demonstrate that the Fe2O3/C@SnO2 pressure sensor exhibits high sensitivity (680 kPa-1), fast response (10 ms), broad range (up to 150 kPa), and good reproducibility (over 3500 cycles under a pressure of 110 kPa), implying that the new pressure sensor has wide application prospects especially in wearable electronic devices and health monitoring.

Monolayer Janus Te2Se-based gas sensor to detect SO2 and NOx: a first-principles study.

In this study, the adsorption of gas molecules, such as O2, NH3, CO, CO2, H2O, NOx (x = 1, 2) and SO2, on Janus Te2Se monolayer has been investigated by means of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We show that Janus Te2Se monolayer is preferable for SO2 and NOx molecules with suitable adsorption strength and apparent charge transfers. We further calculated the current-voltage (I-V) curves using the nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method. The transport feature exhibits distinct responses with a dramatic change of I-V curves before and after NOx (SO2) adsorption on Janus Te2Se. Thus, we predict that Janus Te2Se could be a promising candidate for SO2 and NOx sensors with high selectivity and sensitivity. Moreover, the effect of strain on the gas/substrate adsorption systems was also studied, implying that the strained Janus Te2Se monolayer could enhance the sensitivity and selectivity to SO2 and NO2. The adsorbed SO2 and NO2 on Janus Te2Se could escape by releasing the applied strain, which indicates that the capture process is reversible. Our study widens the application of Janus Te2Se not only as piezoelectric materials, but also as a potential gas sensor or capturer of SO2 and NOx with high sensitivity and selectivity.

Controlling information duration on rewritable luminescent paper based on hybrid antimony (III) chloride/small-molecule absorbates.

Controlling the duration that information lasts on paper so that it disappears as desired is crucial for information security. However, this area is rarely studied. Here, we report [TEMA]2SbCl5 (1, TEMA+ = methyltriethylammonium), [TEA]2SbCl5 (2, TEA+ = tetraethylammonium), [TEBA]2SbCl5 (3, TEBA+ = benzyltriethylammonium), and [Ph4P]2SbCl5 (4, Ph4P+ = tetraphenylphosphonium) with structure-dependent reversible photoluminescent switching induced by the absorption and thermal release of small guest molecules including H2O, methanol, and ethylene glycol. Comparing the structural disorder levels, bond lengths, and luminescent Stokes shifts of the compounds aided in understanding their selective absorption behavior. Our results indicated that the information duration on the rewritable paper coated with the title compounds is easily tuned by changing the cation of the compounds, the type of guest molecules, and laser heating power. Our study opens previously unidentified avenues for information security and extends the potential applications of rewritable paper.

Integrated Sensing and Warning Multifunctional Devices Based on the Combined Mechanical and Thermal Effect of Porous Graphene.

Wearable devices with integrated alarm functions play a vital role in daily life and can help people prevent potential hazards. Although many wearable sensors have been extensively studied and proposed to monitor various physiological signals, most of them are needed to integrate with the external alarm elements to realize warning, such as light-emitting diodes and buzzers, resulting in the system complexity and poor flexibility. In this paper, an integrated sensing and warning multifunctional device based on the mechanical and thermal effect of porous graphene is proposed on a bilayer asymmetrical pattern of laser-induced graphene (LIG). Compared with the strain sensor with nonpatterned LIG, the mechanical performance is greatly improved with the highest gauge factor value of up to 950 for the strain sensor with mesh-patterned LIG. On the contrary, the heating performance of the heater with nonpatterned LIG is better than that with mesh-patterned LIG. Combining the performance differences of different LIG patterns, the integrated wearable device with a bilayer asymmetrical LIG pattern is demonstrated. It can generate enough heating energy to warn the person when the detected signal meets the threshold condition measured in real time by the ultrasensitive strain sensor. This work will provide a new way to construct an integrated wearable device for realizing multifunctional applications. This integrated multifunctional device shows great potential toward the applications in healthcare monitoring and timely warning.

Tellurene Nanoflake-Based NO2 Sensors with Superior Sensitivity and a Sub-Parts-per-Billion Detection Limit.

Industrial production, environmental monitoring, and clinical medicine put forward urgent demands for high-performance gas sensors. Two-dimensional (2D) materials are regarded as promising gas-sensing materials owing to their large surface-to-volume ratio, high surface activity, and abundant surface-active sites. However, it is still challenging to achieve facilely prepared materials with high sensitivity, fast response, full recovery, and robustness in harsh environments for gas sensing. Here, a combination of experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations is performed to explore the application of tellurene in gas sensors. The prepared tellurene nanoflakes via facile liquid-phase exfoliation show an excellent response to NO2 (25 ppb, 201.8% and 150 ppb, 264.3%) and an ultralow theory detection limit (DL) of 0.214 ppb at room temperature, which is excellent compared to that of most reported 2D materials. Furthermore, tellurene sensors present a fast response (25 ppb, 83 s and 100 ppb, 26 s) and recovery (25 ppb, 458 s and 100 ppb, 290 s). The DFT calculations further clarify the reasons for enhanced electrical conductivity after NO2 adsorption because of the interfacial electron transfer from tellurene to NO2, revealing an underlying explanation for tellurene-based gas sensors. These results indicate that tellurene is eminently promising for detecting NO2 with superior sensitivity, favorable selectivity, an ultralow DL, fast response-recovery, and high stability.