Plant‐Based Modular Building Blocks for “Green” Electronic Skins

Abstract

Electronic skins (e‐skins) are a hot research topic with applications in many areas of modern science. Considering the economic viability and sustainability of devices for practical applications, green devices are currently in high demand because they are safe, sustainable, and efficient wearable systems. With natural hierarchical and fiber‐shape structures and biological activities, plants are earth‐abundant sustainable materials and are excellent “green” candidates to prepare electrodes for e‐skins. This review covers recent progress in the use of natural plants for e‐skins and highlights their advantages and main functions, for example, biodegradation, mechanical matching, and physical interactions. It is also discussed how the versatility of these materials can further advance next‐generation, sustainable, flexible e‐skins and the integration of such devices into living environments, which would enable practical application of these systems. Finally, challenges for employing plant materials in green e‐skins are addressed.

Nanomaterials and their applications on bio-inspired wearable electronics

“…These desirable characteristics are attributed to the network structure of the spongin fibers with hierarchical micropores. Similar inspirations can be also found in diatoms [28] and the cellulose structures of plants [29].…”

High‐performance flexible sensing devices based on polyaniline/MXene nanocomposites

“…Figures D (inset) and S4 show that the nanocomposite has a perfect interface structure and pristine Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene has an obvious (002) plane with an interplanar spacing of 13.20 å (Figure S5). Furthermore, such ordered open structure can create a large of mass transport pathways for fast gas diffusion, leading to a fast response rate at RT …”

“…Furthermore, such ordered open structure can create a large of mass transport pathways for fast gas diffusion, leading to a fast response rate at RT. 35,36 Figure 2E shows the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) survey spectra of Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene and PANI/Ti 3 C 2 T x nanocomposites. The existence of Ti, C, O, and F elements can clearly be seen in both materials, which are consistent with observation of energy dispersive spectroscopy ( Figure S6).…”

High‐Performance and Degradable All‐Paper‐Based Pressure Sensor from Conductive Polymer

“…Therefore, it is highly desirable to combine green and degradable materials with wearable sensors. [ 32–37 ] For example, Ding et al. prepared a high‐performance sensor based on a polyvinyl alcohol‐cellulose nanofibril double‐network organohydrogel, which not only shows high sensing performance, such as high sensitivity and low limit of detection but also exhibits good degradability and eco‐friendliness.…”

“…Therefore, it is highly desirable to combine green and degradable materials with wearable sensors. [32][33][34][35][36][37] For example, Ding et al prepared a high-performance sensor based on a polyvinyl alcoholcellulose nanofibril double-network organohydrogel, which not only shows high sensing performance, such as high sensitivity and low limit of detection but also exhibits good degradability and eco-friendliness. [34,35] Among these degradable materials, paper, mainly derived from natural plants, has emerged as an excellent green candidate owing to its sustainability, biocompatibility, and degradability.…”