Highly sensitive
flexible piezocapacitive (PC) pressure sensor
demonstrates wide applications in wearable electronics. In this paper,
we first theoretically proposed an effective strategy to improve the
sensitivity of the PC pressure sensor, by constructing a porous dielectric
layer composted of inorganics with high dielectric constant (εH) and organics with low dielectric constant (εL). By using CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) nanocrystals
with giant ε as the dopant and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with
a low ε as the matrix, an ultrasoft CCTO-PDMS dielectric sponge
was fabricated, via a simple porogen-assisted process. The CCTO-PDMS
composited sponge exhibits an ultralow compression modulus of 6.3
kPa, a highly enhanced sensitivity with the gauge factor of up to
1.66 kPa–1 in a range of 0–640 Pa, and a
response time of 33 ms, and the sensitivity outperforms that of pure
PDMS and other PC sensors reported recently. This sensitivity enhancement
is attributed to the hybridization of two phases of εH/εL in the composites, which provides an effective
route to other novel flexible PC sensors. In practical applications,
CCTO-PDMS-based PC sensor demonstrates potential applications, such
as recording wrist pulse wave with fine accuracy and fidelity, bending
and twisting detection, and Moss code simulating. The low-cost fabrication
process in conjunction with its superior sensitivity, robustness of
the functional versatility, and mechanical flexibility make the CCTO-PDMS-based
pressure sensor widely promising for applications in wearable devices,
flexible electronics, robotics, etc.
Plasmonic structures are gaining tremendous interest due to their unique capability to trap light into subwavelength units, beneficial for high efficient light harvesting and related applications. Here, a plasmonic structure realized on a monocrystallized Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) nanosheet‐assembled membrane is presented. This unique CZTS structure exhibits high absorption efficiency (≈92.25%) in a broad solar spectrum (200–2500 nm), leading to a solar desalination efficiency of ≈84.5% under 1 Sun irradiation. This highly efficient broadband absorption is due to the structure induced localized surface plasmon resonance absorption. Besides, owing to its high chemical stability, salty water containing heavy metal ions can be effectively desalinated with a constant long time (>20 h) durability using this CZTS membranes as the absorber. The combination of the robust desalination effect, high stability and durability, as well as the low‐cost and scalable process for production, makes this type of CZTS membranes one of the most competitive desalination candidates.
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