An elastic and lamellar piezoresistive graphene/MXene aerogel

Recently, wearable electronic devices and human-computer interaction are developing prosperously, which expands the requirement of flexible sensing materials. Graphene and its derivatives with extraordinary advantages are highly attractive precursors. However, it is difficult to assemble graphene into macroscopic cubes with good fatigue resistance performance. Here, we propose an efficient way to manufacture a lamellar-structural rGO aerogel with enhanced stiffness and deflection of lamellae, by using MXene as a rigidity additive. The addition of MXene (Ti3C2Tx) improves the mechanical and fatigue resistance properties of the aerogel, making it super compressible and elastic. The highly stable structure of the aerogel can withstand extremely high compressive strain of 90% and long-term compression at 50% strain for at least 10,000 cycles. The lamellar structure makes a great contribution to achieve good sensing performance including high linear sensitivity, low testing limit, wide testing strain range and quick response. These features make the MXene/rGO aerogel a promising sensing material for flexible wearable devices to monitor the subtle and obvious biosignals of the human body movement.

Automated summary

Recently, there has been a growing demand for flexible sensing materials due to the prosperous development of wearable electronic devices and human-computer interaction. Graphene and its derivatives have gained significant attention due to their extraordinary advantages, but assembling graphene into macroscopic cubes with good fatigue resistance performance is challenging. In this study, researchers propose an efficient method to manufacture a lamellar-structural rGO aerogel with enhanced stiffness and deflection by using MXene as a rigidity additive. The addition of MXene improves the mechanical and fatigue resistance properties of the aerogel, making it super compressible and elastic. The highly stable structure of the aerogel can withstand extreme compressive strain and long-term compression, making it a promising sensing material for flexible wearable devices.