Smart Electronic Textiles Weng, Wei; Chen, Peining; He, Sisi ...
Angewandte Chemie (International ed.),
May 17, 2016, Volume:
55, Issue:
21
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
This Review describes the state‐of‐the‐art of wearable electronics (smart textiles). The unique and promising advantages of smart electronic textiles are highlighted by comparing them with the ...conventional planar counterparts. The main kinds of smart electronic textiles based on different functionalities, namely the generation, storage, and utilization of electricity, are then discussed with an emphasis on the use of functional materials. The remaining challenges are summarized together with important new directions to provide some useful clues for the future development of smart electronic textiles.
Working clothes: Electronic textiles are a promising technology that could soon become part of our everyday lives. The three typical functions of wearable electronics—generation, storage, and utilization of electricity—are discussed with a main focus on functional materials.
Solar radiation, especially ultraviolet (UV) light, is a major hazard for most skin‐related cancers. The growing needs for wearable health monitoring systems call for a high‐performance real‐time UV ...sensor to prevent skin diseases caused by excess UV exposure. To this end, here a novel self‐powered p‐CuZnS/n‐TiO2 UV photodetector (PD) with high performance is successfully developed (responsivity of 2.54 mA W−1 at 0 V toward 300 nm). Moreover, by effectively replacing the Ti foil with a thin Ti wire for the anodization process, the conventional planar rigid device is artfully turned into a fiber‐shaped flexible and wearable one. The fiber‐shaped device shows an outstanding responsivity of 640 A W−1, external quantum efficiency of 2.3 × 105%, and photocurrent of ≈4 mA at 3 V, exceeding those of most current UV PDs. Its ultrahigh photocurrent enables it to be easily integrated with commercial electronics to function as a real‐time monitor system. Thus, the first real‐time wearable UV radiation sensor that reads out ambient UV power density and transmits data to smart phones via wifi is demonstrated. This work not only presents a promising wearable health monitor, but also provides a general strategy for designing and fabricating smart wearable electronic devices.
A real‐time wearable UV sensor for prevention of skin cancers caused by excess UV radiation exposure is demonstrated. The fiber‐shaped device consisting of a novel p‐CuZnS/n‐TiO2 nanotube array structure exhibits an outstanding photocurrent and external quantum efficiency, a fast response speed, and self‐powered property, which make it a promising wearable real‐time health monitor.
Metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted considerable attention from both academia and industry as a promising next-generation technology to harvest solar energy with high power ...conversion efficiencies (PCEs) at low-cost. At the current stage, efficiencies of these cells have been improved to an impressive level, but the instability issue remains as a major obstacle impeding further commercialization of this technology. In this review, we start with examining the status about the technological aspects of PSC stability research, e.g., stability measurement protocols, their relevance to the realistic operational lifetime, and where we are from the viewpoint of 10-year lifetime. These pressing challenges are correlated with the investigations on the fundamental aspects emphasizing the comprehensive physicochemical understanding of degradation mechanisms in perovskite materials. We examine the various extrinsic and intrinsic factors influencing stability of perovskite materials with different compositions (mixed cations and / or mixed anions, double perovskites, etc.), dimensionality (3D perovskites, 2D perovskites, 2D/3D mixed dimensional perovskites), instability induced by functional layers other than the perovskite layer, and the interactions at various interfaces. On the basis of the analyses of these multiple degradation factors with an emphasis on the holistic microscopic views acquired above, we discuss strategies to improve PSC stability. We finish the review by outlining future research directions that can help achieve long-term stability of PSCs.
Stretchable lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) consisting of an arch structure and a stretchable anode and cathode are developed using a general strategy. The LIB maintains a remarkable and stable ...electrochemical performance after hundreds of stretching cycles at a strain of 400%. Compared with other stretchable LIBs, which stretch at the device level, but whose components (electrodes) remain rigid, the component‐level stretchability is here the design key to the LIB's highly stable performance.
Perovskite photovoltaic (PV) technology toward commercialization relies on high power conversion efficiency (PCE), long lifetime, and low-toxicity in addition to development of scalable fabrication ...protocols, optimization of large-area solar module structures, and a positive cost–benefit assessment. Although small-area metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) show PCE up to 24.2%, the efficiency gap between small- and large-area PSC devices is still large. Worldwide research efforts have been directed toward developing scalable fabrication strategies for perovskite solar modules. In this Review, we share our view regarding the current-stage challenges for the fabrication of perovskite solar modules with areas greater than 200 cm2, summarize recent progress in minimizing the efficiency gap, and highlight what strategies warrant further investigation for moving perovskite PV technology toward industrial scale. These strategies include learning from other commercialized thin-film PV technologies, analyzing the current status of perovskite solar modules employing solution- and vapor-based scalable fabrication techniques, and optimizing large-area module designs. Considering cost analysis and operational stability profiles, carbon electrode-based devices are particularly promising.
Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonia holds great promise for developing green technologies for electrochemical ammonia energy conversion and storage. Considering that real nitrate resources ...often exhibit low concentrations, it is challenging to achieve high activity in low-concentration nitrate solutions due to the competing reaction of the hydrogen evolution reaction, let alone considering the catalyst lifetime. Herein, we present a high nitrate reduction performance electrocatalyst based on a Co nanosheet structure with a gradient dispersion of Ru, which yields a high NH3 Faraday efficiency of over 93% at an industrially relevant NH3 current density of 1.0 A/cm2 in 2000 ppm NO3- electrolyte, while maintaining good stability for 720 h under −300 mA/cm2. The electrocatalyst maintains high activity even in 62 ppm NO3- electrolyte. Electrochemical studies, density functional theory, electrochemical in situ Raman, and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy confirm that the gradient concentration design of the catalyst reduces the reaction energy barrier to improve its activity and suppresses the catalyst evolution caused by the expansion of the Co lattice to enhance its stability. The gradient-driven design in this work provides a direction for improving the performance of electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonia.Achieving stable and high-activity nitrate electroreduction to ammonia in low concentrations nitrate is critical but challenging. Here, the authors present a Co-based electrocatalyst with gradient-doped Ru atoms, showing a continuous ammonia production at −1000 mA/cm2 in 2000 ppm nitrate electrolyte.
Stability and scalability have become the two main challenges for perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with the research focus in the field advancing toward commercialization. One of the prerequisites to ...solve these challenges is to develop a cost‐effective, uniform, and high quality electron transport layer that is compatible with stable PSCs. Sputtering deposition is widely employed for large area deposition of high quality thin films in the industry. Here the composition, structure, and electronic properties of room temperature sputtered SnO2 are systematically studied. Ar and O2 are used as the sputtering and reactive gas, respectively, and it is found that a highly oxidizing environment is essential for the formation of high quality SnO2 films. With the optimized structure, SnO2 films with high quality have been prepared. It is demonstrated that PSCs based on the sputtered SnO2 electron transport layer show an efficiency up to 20.2% (stabilized power output of 19.8%) and a T80 operational lifetime of 625 h. Furthermore, the uniform and thin sputtered SnO2 film with high conductivity is promising for large area solar modules, which show efficiencies over 12% with an aperture area of 22.8 cm2 fabricated on 5 × 5 cm2 substrates (geometry fill factor = 91%), and a T80 operational lifetime of 515 h.
Scalable room‐temperature sputtering deposition of the SnO2 electron transport layer (ETL) with reduced gap states is demonstrated. Perovskite solar cells using a SnO2 ETL show an efficiency up to 20.2% and a T80 lifetime of 625 h. Mini‐modules with a 22.8 cm2 aperture area show efficiencies over 12% and a T80 lifetime of 515 h, which indicates the upscalability of our method.
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