Layer Engineered MXene Empowered Wearable Pressure Sensors for Non-Invasive Vital Human–Machine Interfacing Healthcare Monitoring

Abstract

Pressure sensors with high flexibility and sensitivity face significant challenges in meeting the delicate balance and synergy among suitable active sensing electrode materials, substrates, and their device geometry design. In this contribution, layer-engineered delaminated Ti-MXene (DL-Ti3C2Tx) is introduced, which has relatively wider interlayer spacing through intercalated large organic molecules and accordion-like open internal microstructure than the narrower pristine Ti3C2Tx MXene (Ti-MXene), graphene/carbon nanotube&apos;s interlayer spacing suitably fulfill the high sensitivity and flexibility requirement through accessible electronic pathways under the external pressure. Notably, a milder in-situ ambient condition etching is performed to eliminate the associated safety risks for a flexible personal healthcare monitoring pressure sensor. DL-Ti3C2Tx MXene-empowered, flexible pressure sensor demonstrates a broad range of sensitivities up to a very high-pressure of 20.8kPa at a sensitivity of 242.3 kPa−1 with a fast response and recovery time (<300ms). A twofold increase in pressure sensitivity performance of DL-Ti3C2Tx MXene than that of Ti-MXene, graphene can be attributed to the engineered wider interlayer distance among the delaminated DL-Ti3C2Tx MXene layers causing a facile interlayer atomic movements, contacts, and reversible compressibility. The current economical, scalable DL-Ti3C2Tx MXene flexible pressure sensor can provide future safe personal healthcare artificial intelligence with real-time tracking ability. © 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.