Wenjun Chen

Flexible, sandwich-like CNTs/NiCo2O4 hybrid paper electrodes for all-solid state supercapacitors

With the increasing demand for compact storage systems for portable and wearable electronic devices, flexible supercapacitors with high volumetric performance have attracted considerable attention. Here, we report a simple method to fabricate a sandwich-like carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/NiCo2O4 hybrid paper electrode, consisting of a layer of conductive CNT buckypaper coated with honeycomb-like NiCo2O4 nanosheets at both sides. Owing to the high conductivity of the CNT skeleton and vertically aligned structure of NiCo2O4 nanosheets, the free-standing hybrid paper possesses an ultra-high specific capacitance of 1752.3 F g−1 and excellent cycling performance. A flexible all-solid-state symmetrical supercapacitor has been further assembled based on the hybrid paper. The device exhibits excellent volumetric energy and power densities (1.17 mW h cm−3 and 2430 mW cm−3) and deformability, even under bending at an angle of 180°. The hybrid paper can serve as a freestanding and flexible electrode for various energy devices.

Centimeter-Scale CVD Growth of Highly Crystalline Single-Layer MoS2 Film with Spatial Homogeneity and the Visualization of Grain Boundaries

MoS2 monolayer attracts considerable attention due to its semiconducting nature with a direct bandgap which can be tuned by various approaches. Yet a controllable and low-cost method to produce large-scale, high-quality, and uniform MoS2 monolayer continuous film, which is of crucial importance for practical applications and optical measurements, remains a great challenge. Most previously reported MoS2 monolayer films had limited crystalline sizes, and the high density of grain boundaries inside the films greatly affected the electrical properties. Herein, we demonstrate that highly crystalline MoS2 monolayer film with spatial size up to centimeters can be obtained via a facile chemical vapor deposition method with solid-phase precursors. This growth strategy contains selected precursor and controlled diffusion rate, giving rise to the high quality of the film. The well-defined grain boundaries inside the continuous film, which are invisible under an optical microscope, can be clearly detected in photoluminescence mapping and atomic force microscope phase images, with a low density of ∼0.04 μm-1. Transmission electron microscopy combined with selected area electron diffraction measurements further confirm the high structural homogeneity of the MoS2 monolayer film with large crystalline sizes. Electrical measurements show uniform and promising performance of the transistors made from the MoS2 monolayer film. The carrier mobility remains high at large channel lengths. This work opens a new pathway toward electronic and optical applications, and fundamental growth mechanism as well, of the MoS2 monolayer.

In-Situ Welding Carbon Nanotubes into a Porous Solid with Super-High Compressive Strength and Fatigue Resistance

Carbon nanotube (CNT) and graphene-based sponges and aerogels have an isotropic porous structure and their mechanical strength and stability are relatively lower. Here, we present a junction-welding approach to fabricate porous CNT solids in which all CNTs are coated and welded in situ by an amorphous carbon layer, forming an integral three-dimensional scaffold with fixed joints. The resulting CNT solids are robust, yet still highly porous and compressible, with compressive strengths up to 72 MPa, flexural strengths up to 33 MPa, and fatigue resistance (recovery after 100,000 large-strain compression cycles at high frequency). Significant enhancement of mechanical properties is attributed to the welding-induced interconnection and reinforcement of structural units, and synergistic effects stemming from the core-shell microstructures consisting of a flexible CNT framework and a rigid amorphous carbon shell. Our results provide a simple and effective method to manufacture high-strength porous materials by nanoscale welding.

Controllable Fabrication of Large-Area Wrinkled Graphene on a Solution Surface

It is unavoidable to form wrinkles, which are folds or creases in a material, in graphene, whenever the graphene is prepared by micromechanical exfoliation from graphite or chemical vapor deposition (CVD). However, the controllable formation and structures of graphene with nanoscale wrinkles remains a big challenge. Here, we report a liquid-phase shrink method to controllably fabricate large-area wrinkled graphene (WG). The CVD-prepared graphene self-shrinks into a WG on an ethanol solution surface. By modifying the concentration of the ethanol solution, we can easily and efficiently obtain WG with a uniform distribution of wrinkles with different heights. The WG shows high stretchability and can withstand more than 100% tensile strain and up to 720° twist. Furthermore, electromechanical response sensors based on double-layer stacking of WG show ultrahigh sensitivity. This simple, effective, and environmentally friendly liquid-phase shrink method will pave a way for the controllable formation of WG, which is an ideal candidate for application in highly stretchable and highly sensitive electronic devices.

Structural Engineering for High Sensitivity, Ultrathin Pressure Sensors Based on Wrinkled Graphene and Anodic Aluminum Oxide Membrane

Nature-motivated pressure sensors have been greatly important components integrated into flexible electronics and applied in artificial intelligence. Here, we report a high sensitivity, ultrathin, and transparent pressure sensor based on wrinkled graphene prepared by a facile liquid-phase shrink method. Two pieces of wrinkled graphene are face to face assembled into a pressure sensor, in which a porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane with the thickness of only 200 nm was used to insulate the two layers of graphene. The pressure sensor exhibits ultrahigh operating sensitivity (6.92 kPa-1), resulting from the insulation in its inactive state and conduction under compression. Formation of current pathways is attributed to the contact of graphene wrinkles through the pores of AAO membrane. In addition, the pressure sensor is also an on/off and energy saving device, due to the complete isolation between the two graphene layers when the sensor is not subjected to any pressure. We believe that our high-performance pressure sensor is an ideal candidate for integration in flexible electronics, but also paves the way for other 2D materials to be involved in the fabrication of pressure sensors.

Capacitive Pressure Sensor with High Sensitivity and Fast Response to Dynamic Interaction Based on Graphene and Porous Nylon Networks

Flexible pressure sensors are of great importance to be applied in artificial intelligence and wearable electronics. However, assembling a simple structure, high-performance capacitive pressure sensor, especially for monitoring the flow of liquids, is still a big challenge. Here, on the basis of a sandwich-like structure, we propose a facile capacitive pressure sensor optimized by a flexible, low-cost nylon netting, showing many merits including a high response sensitivity (0.33 kPa-1) in a low-pressure regime (<1 kPa), an ultralow detection limit as 3.3 Pa, excellent working stability after more than 1000 cycles, and synchronous monitoring for human pulses and clicks. More important, this sensor exhibits an ultrafast response speed (<20 ms), which enables its detection for the fast variations of a small applied pressure from the morphological changing processes of a droplet falling onto the sensor. Furthermore, a capacitive pressure sensor array is fabricated for demonstrating the ability to spatial pressure distribution. Our developed pressure sensors show great prospects in practical applications such as health monitoring, flexible tactile devices, and motion detection.

Highly Sensitive, Flexible MEMS Based Pressure Sensor with Photoresist Insulation Layer

Pressure sensing is a crucial function for flexible and wearable electronics, such as artificial skin and health monitoring. Recent progress in material and device structure of pressure sensors has brought breakthroughs in flexibility, self-healing, and sensitivity. However, the fabrication process of many pressure sensors is too complicated and difficult to integrate with traditional silicon-based Micro-Electro-Mechanical System(MEMS). Here, this study demonstrates a scalable and integratable contact resistance-based pressure sensor based on a carbon nanotube conductive network and a photoresist insulation layer. The pressure sensors have high sensitivity (95.5 kPa-1 ), low sensing threshold (16 Pa), fast response speed (<16 ms), and zero power consumption when without loading pressure. The sensitivity, sensing threshold, and dynamic range are all tunable by conveniently modifying the hole diameter and thickness of insulation layer.