A highly conductive self-assembled multilayer graphene nanosheet film for electronic tattoos in the applications of human electrophysiology and strain sensing.

Highly conductive, conformable and gel-free electrodes are desirable in human electrophysiology. Besides, intimately coupling with human skin, wearable strain sensors can detect numerous physiological signals, such as wrist pulse and breath. In this study, a multilayer graphene nanosheet film (MGNF) with high conductivity was prepared by the Marangoni self-assembly for using in tattoo dry electrodes (TDEs) and in a graphene tattoo strain sensor (GTSS). Compared to commercial Ag/AgCl gel electrodes, TDEs have lower skin-electrode contact impedance and could detect human electrocardiogram for 24-hour wearing more accurately as well as electromyogram. Through designing a slim serpentine ribbon structure, a resistance-type GTSS, without deterioration even after 2000 cycles, is well demonstrated for human wrist pulse and breath sensing. With the advantages of high conductivity and conformability, MGNF provides support to fabricate low-cost, customizable, and high-performance electronic tattoos for human electrophysiology and strain sensing.

Highly efficient and giant negative electrocaloric effect of a Nb and Sn co-doped lead zirconate titanate antiferroelectric film near room temperature.

Adiabatic temperature variation (ΔT), coefficient of performance (COP) and electrocaloric coefficient (ΔT/ΔE) play important roles in evaluating the comprehensive performance of solid-state cooling technology based on the electrocaloric effect (ECE). A Nb and Sn co-doped lead zirconate titanate antiferroelectric film, Pb0.99Nb0.02(Zr0.85Sn0.13Ti0.02)O3 (PNZST), shows a highly efficient and giant negative ECE. The ΔT, |ΔT/ΔE| and COP are about -9.8 K, 0.0488 K cm kV-1 and 35.53 at around 50 °C, respectively. The full width at half maximum of the ΔT peak is about 37 °C. Phenomenological analysis indicates that the highly efficient and giant negative ECE is associated with the first-order transition that has a discontinuous polarization change with increasing temperature.

Flexible Semitransparent Energy Harvester with High Pressure Sensitivity and Power Density Based on Laterally Aligned PZT Single-Crystal Nanowires.

A flexible semitransparent energy harvester is assembled based on laterally aligned Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 (PZT) single-crystal nanowires (NWs). Such a harvester presents the highest open-circuit voltage and a stable area power density of up to 10 V and 0.27 µW/cm2, respectively. A high pressure sensitivity of 0.14 V/kPa is obtained in the dynamic pressure sensing, much larger than the values reported in other energy harvesters based on piezoelectric single-crystal NWs. Furthermore, theoretical and finite element analyses also confirm that the piezoelectric voltage constant g33 of PZT NWs is competitive to the lead-based bulk single crystals and ceramics, and the enhanced pressure sensitivity and power density are substantially linked to the flexible structure with laterally aligned PZT NWs. The energy harvester in this work holds great potential in flexible and transparent sensing and self-powered systems.