The flourishing development of multifunctional flexible electronics cannot leave the beneficial role of nature, which provides continuous inspiration in their material, structural, and functional designs. During the evolution of flexible electronics, some originated from nature, some were even beyond nature, and others were implantable or biodegradable eventually to nature. Therefore, the relationship between flexible electronics and nature is undoubtedly vital since harmony between nature and technology evolution would promote the sustainable development. Herein, materials selection and functionality design for flexible electronics that are mostly inspired from nature are first introduced with certain functionality even beyond nature. Then, frontier advances on flexible electronics including the main individual components (i.e., energy (the power source) and the sensor (the electric load)) are presented from nature, beyond nature, and to nature with the aim of enlightening the harmonious relationship between the modern electronics technology and nature. Finally, critical issues in next-generation flexible electronics are discussed to provide possible solutions and new insights in prospective exploration directions.
Considering the ever‐growing climatic degeneration, sustainable and renewable energy sources are needed to be effectively integrated into the grid through large‐scale electrochemical energy storage and conversion (EESC) technologies. With regard to their competent benefit in cost and sustainable supply of resource, room‐temperature sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) have shown great promise in EESC, triumphing over other battery systems on the market. As one of the most fascinating cathode materials due to the simple synthesis process, large specific capacity, and high ionic conductivity, Na‐based layered transition metal oxide cathodes commonly suffer from the sluggish kinetics, multiphase evolution, poor air stability, and insufficient comprehensive performance, restricting their commercialization application. Here, this review summarizes the recent advances in layered oxide cathode materials for SIBs through different optimal structure modulation technologies, with an emphasis placed on strategies to boost Na+ kinetics and reduce the irreversible phase transition as well as enhance the store stability. Meanwhile, a thorough and in‐depth systematical investigation of the structure–function–property relationship is also discussed, and the challenges as well as opportunities for practical application electrode materials are sketched. The insights brought forward in this review can be considered as a guide for SIBs in next‐generation EESC.
A composite electrode composed of reduced graphene oxide‐graphite felt (rGO‐GF) with excellent electrocatalytic redox reversibility toward V2+/V3+ and VO2+/VO2+ redox couples in vanadium batteries was fabricated by a facile hydrothermal method. Compared with the pristine graphite felt (GF) electrode, the rGO‐GF composite electrode possesses abundant oxygen functional groups, high electron conductivity, and outstanding stability. Its corresponding energy efficiency and discharge capacity are significantly increased by 20% and 300%, respectively, at a high current density of 150 mA cm−2. Moreover, a discharge capacity of 20 A h L−1 is obtained with a higher voltage efficiency (74.5%) and energy efficiency (72.0%), even at a large current density of 200 mA cm−2. The prepared rGO‐GF composite electrode holds great promise as a high‐performance electrode for vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB).
The combination of novel materials with flexible electronic technology may yield new concepts of flexible electronic devices that effectively detect various biological chemicals to facilitate understanding of biological processes and conduct health monitoring. This paper demonstrates single- or multichannel implantable flexible sensors that are surface modified with conductive metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) such as copper-MOF and cobalt-MOF with large surface area, high porosity, and tunable catalysis capability. The sensors can monitor important nutriments such as ascorbicacid, glycine, l-tryptophan (l-Trp), and glucose with detection resolutions of 14.97, 0.71, 4.14, and 54.60 × 10 m, respectively. In addition, they offer sensing capability even under extreme deformation and complex surrounding environment with continuous monitoring capability for 20 d due to minimized use of biological active chemicals. Experiments using live cells and animals indicate that the MOF-modified sensors are biologically safe to cells, and can detect l-Trp in blood and interstitial fluid. This work represents the first effort in integrating MOFs with flexible sensors to achieve highly specific and sensitive implantable electrochemical detection and may inspire appearance of more flexible electronic devices with enhanced capability in sensing, energy storage, and catalysis using various properties of MOFs.
Solid electrolytes (SEs) can potentially address the inherent safety problems of conventional organic liquid electrolytes. However, their low ionic conductivity and large interfacial resistance limit the practical applications of SEs. Here, a flexible solid electrolyte with a multilayer structure is fabricated by the UV curing of an interpenetrating network of poly(ether‐acrylate) (ipn‐PEA) in the Na3Zr2Si2PO12/poly(vinylidene fluoride‐hexafluoropropylene) porous skeleton (NZSP/PVDF‐HFP), exhibiting a high Na+ transference number of 0.63 and a suitable ionic conductivity of above 10−4 S cm−1 at 60 °C. In addition, due to the unique structure of the internal rigidity and external flexibility, the composite solid electrolyte can effectively mitigate interfacial ion transfer issues while guaranteeing a certain mechanical strength, and largely inhibiting the formation of dendrite and dead sodium. The solid sodium metal batteries using Na3V2(PO4)3 (NVP) as a cathode possess a discharge capacity of 85 mA h g−1 after 100 cycles at 0.5 C, and achieve above 90% of capacity retention rate during 100 cycles at 0.1 C for Na2/3Ni1/3Mn1/3Ti1/3O2 (NTMO) at 60 °C. The flexible solid electrolyte with multilayer structure shows a great advantage for managing the ionic conductivity and interface resistance problem, suggesting a promise as a practical sodium metal battery.
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