Flexible breathable photothermal-therapy epidermic sensor with MXene for ultrasensitive wearable human-machine interaction

Abstract

Multifunctional flexible wearable epidermic sensors have gained enormous attention for their promising potential applications in personal health management, electronic skins and intelligent human-machine interaction. However, it remains a critical challenge to realize a flexible breathable sensing device with reliable sensing performances for comfortably wearable human motion detection and ultrasensitive human-machine interfacing with the integrated functional capability of disease diagnosis and subsequent photothermal therapy simultaneously. Herein, a flexible breathable epidermic sensor is fabricated by delicately assembling conductive MXene nanosheets and silver nanowires (AgNWs) onto electrospun elastomeric substrates for ultrasensitive sensing and on-demand photothermal therapy. The as-prepared flexible breathable electronic sensor presents a broad sensing range (up to ∼120 %), ultrahigh sensitivity (gauge factor (GF) up to 4720), extremely low detection limit, remarkable reliability, and robust biocompatibility for serving as the electronic skin to monitor human physiological signals and wearable human-machine interaction. Moreover, it exhibits brilliant photothermal properties for enhanced antibacterial effect and timely photothermal therapy after healthcare monitoring and disease diagnosis. This work provides a facile way of developing flexible breathable multifunctional electronic sensors featured with excellent sensing ability, brilliant breathability and reliable photothermal properties for long-term healthcare monitoring, ultrasensitive wearable human-machine interfacing, smart disease diagnosis and treatment.