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1. Epidermis‐Inspired Wearable Piezoresistive Pressure Sensors Using Reduced Graphene Oxide Self‐Wrapped Copper Nanowire Networks

   https://doi.org/10.1002/smtd.202100900  

   Zhu, Yangzhi ; Hartel, Martin C. ; Yu, Ning ; Garrido, Pamela Rosario ; Kim, Sanggon ; Lee, Junmin ; Bandaru, Praveen ; Guan, Shenghan ; Lin, Haisong ; Emaminejad, Sam ; et al ( December 2021 , Small Methods)

   Wearable piezoresistive sensors are being developed as electronic skins (E‐skin) for broad applications in human physiological monitoring and soft robotics. Tactile sensors with sufficient sensitivities, durability, and large dynamic ranges are required to replicate this critical component of the somatosensory system. Multiple micro/nanostructures, materials, and sensing modalities have been reported to address this need. However, a trade‐off arises between device performance and device complexity. Inspired by the microstructure of the spinosum at the dermo epidermal junction in skin, a low‐cost, scalable, and high‐performance piezoresistive sensor is developed with high sensitivity (0.144 kPa^‐1), extensive sensing range ( 0.1–15 kPa), fast response time (less than 150 ms), and excellent long‐term stability (over 1000 cycles). Furthermore, the piezoresistive functionality of the device is realized via a flexible transparent electrode (FTE) using a highly stable reduced graphene oxide self‐wrapped copper nanowire network. The developed nanowire‐based spinosum microstructured FTEs are amenable to wearable electronics applications.

    

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2. Fully inkjet-printed multilayered graphene-based flexible electrodes for repeatable electrochemical response

   https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ra04786d  

   Pandhi, Twinkle ; Cornwell, Casey ; Fujimoto, Kiyo ; Barnes, Pete ; Cox, Jasmine ; Xiong, Hui ; Davis, Paul H. ; Subbaraman, Harish ; Koehne, Jessica E. ; Estrada, David ( October 2020 , RSC Advances)

   null (Ed.)

   Graphene has proven to be useful in biosensing applications. However, one of the main hurdles with printed graphene-based electrodes is achieving repeatable electrochemical performance from one printed electrode to another. We have developed a consistent fabrication process to control the sheet resistance of inkjet-printed graphene electrodes, thereby accomplishing repeatable electrochemical performance. Herein, we investigated the electrochemical properties of multilayered graphene (MLG) electrodes fully inkjet-printed (IJP) on flexible Kapton substrates. The electrodes were fabricated by inkjet printing three materials – (1) a conductive silver ink for electrical contact, (2) an insulating dielectric ink, and (3) MLG ink as the sensing material. The selected materials and fabrication methods provided great control over the ink rheology and material deposition, which enabled stable and repeatable electrochemical response: bending tests revealed the electrochemical behavior of these sensors remained consistent over 1000 bend cycles. Due to the abundance of structural defects ( e.g. , edge defects) present in the exfoliated graphene platelets, cyclic voltammetry (CV) of the graphene electrodes showed good electron transfer ( k = 1.125 × 10 −2 cm s −1 ) with a detection limit (0.01 mM) for the ferric/ferrocyanide redox couple, [Fe(CN) 6 ] −3/−4 , which is comparable or superior to modified graphene or graphene oxide-based sensors. Additionally, the potentiometric response of the electrodes displayed good sensitivity over the pH range of 4–10. Moreover, a fully IJP three-electrode device (MLG, platinum, and Ag/AgCl) also showed quasi-reversibility compared to a single IJP MLG electrode device. These findings demonstrate significant promise for scalable fabrication of a flexible, low cost, and fully-IJP wearable sensor system needed for space, military, and commercial biosensing applications. 

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3. Recent Advances in Electrochemical Sensors for Detecting Toxic Gases: NO2, SO2 and H2S

   https://doi.org/10.3390/s19040905  

   Khan, Md ; Rao, Mulpuri ; Li, Qiliang ( February 2019 , Sensors)

   null (Ed.)

   Toxic gases, such as NOx, SOx, H2S and other S-containing gases, cause numerous harmful effects on human health even at very low gas concentrations. Reliable detection of various gases in low concentration is mandatory in the fields such as industrial plants, environmental monitoring, air quality assurance, automotive technologies and so on. In this paper, the recent advances in electrochemical sensors for toxic gas detections were reviewed and summarized with a focus on NO2, SO2 and H2S gas sensors. The recent progress of the detection of each of these toxic gases was categorized by the highly explored sensing materials over the past few decades. The important sensing performance parameters like sensitivity/response, response and recovery times at certain gas concentration and operating temperature for different sensor materials and structures have been summarized and tabulated to provide a thorough performance comparison. A novel metric, sensitivity per ppm/response time ratio has been calculated for each sensor in order to compare the overall sensing performance on the same reference. It is found that hybrid materials-based sensors exhibit the highest average ratio for NO2 gas sensing, whereas GaN and metal-oxide based sensors possess the highest ratio for SO2 and H2S gas sensing, respectively. Recently, significant research efforts have been made exploring new sensor materials, such as graphene and its derivatives, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), GaN, metal-metal oxide nanostructures, solid electrolytes and organic materials to detect the above-mentioned toxic gases. In addition, the contemporary progress in SO2 gas sensors based on zeolite and paper and H2S gas sensors based on colorimetric and metal-organic framework (MOF) structures have also been reviewed. Finally, this work reviewed the recent first principle studies on the interaction between gas molecules and novel promising materials like arsenene, borophene, blue phosphorene, GeSe monolayer and germanene. The goal is to understand the surface interaction mechanism. 

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4. Ion selective nano-mesh electrode for long-term continuous monitoring of wastewater quality fabricated using template-guided membrane immobilization

   https://doi.org/10.1039/d1en00966d  

   Wang, Tianbao ; Cui, Can ; Huang, Yuankai ; Fan, Yingzheng ; Xu, Zhiheng ; Sarge, Logan ; Bagtzoglou, Christos ; Brückner, Christian ; Gao, Puxian ; Li, Baikun ( June 2022 , Environmental Science: Nano)

   Ion selective electrode (ISE) sensors have been broadly applied for real-time in situ monitoring of ion concentrations in water environments. However, ISE sensors suffer from critical problems, such as ionophore leaching, water-penetration, poor electrochemical stability, and resulting short life spans. In this study, a template-guided membrane matrix immobilization strategy was pursued as a novel ISE sensor fabrication methodology to enhance its sensing characteristics and longevity. Specifically, nano-porous anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) was used as the template for an NH 4 + -specific ISE sensor. A nano-porous nickel mesh eventually replaced the template and formed a compact, high-surface juncture with the NH 4 + ion-selective membrane matrix. The resulting template-guided nano-mesh ISE (TN-ISE) sensor displayed enhanced electrochemical stability ( i.e. , capacitance increased by 50%, reading drift reduced by 75%) when compared to a regular single-wall carbon nanotube (SW-CNT) ISE sensor used as the standard. The interface between the nano-mesh electrode and the ion selective membrane matrix was compact enough to prevent water influx at the electrode interface. This minimized ionophore leaching and increased the mechanical integrity of the TN-ISE sensor. The practical advantages of the novel sensor were validated via long-term (360 hours) tests in real wastewater, returning a small average error of 1.28% over this time. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the template-guided nano-mesh design and fabrication strategy toward ISEs for long-term continuous monitoring of water or wastewater quality. 

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5. Transparent InGaZnO-Based Resistive Random Access Memory

   Qin, Fei ; Lee, Sunghwan ( May 2022 , Materials Research Society)

   The major focus of artificial intelligence (AI) research is made on biomimetic synaptic processes that are mimicked by functional memory devices in the computer industry [1]. It is urgent to find a memory technology for suiting with Brain-Inspired Computing to break the von Neumann bottleneck which limits the efficiency of conventional computer architectures [2]. Silicon-based flash memory, which currently dominates the market for data storage devices, is facing challenging issues to meet the needs of future data storage device development due to the limitations, such as high-power consumption, high operation voltage, and low retention capacity [1]. The emerging resistive random-access memory (RRAM) has elicited intense research as its simple sandwiched structure, including top electrode (TE) layer, bottom electrode (BE) layer, and an intermediate resistive switching (RS) layer, can store data using RS phenomenon between the high resistance state (HRS) and the low resistance state (LRS). This class of emerging devices is expected to outperform conventional memory devices [3]. Specifically, the advantages of RRAM include low-voltage operation, short programming time, great cyclic stability, and good scalability [4]. Among the materials for RS layer, indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) has attracted attention because of its abundance and high atomic diffusion property of oxygen atoms, transparency, and its easily modulated electrical properties by controlling the stoichiometric ratio of indium and gallium as well as oxygen potential in the sputter gas [5, 6]. Moreover, since the IGZO can be applied to both the thin-film transistor (TFT) channel and RS layer, the IGZO-based fully integrated transparent electronics are very promising [5]. In this work, we proposed transparent IGZO-based RRAMs. First, we chose ITO to serve as both TE and BE to achieve high transmittance in the visible regime of light. All three layers (TE, RS, BE layers) were deposited using a multi-target magnetron sputtering system on glass substrates to demonstrate fully transparent oxide-based devices. I-V characteristics were evaluated by a semiconductor parameter analyzer, and our devices showed typical butterfly curves indicating the bipolar RS property. And the IGZO-based RRAM can survive more than 50 continuous sweeping cycles. The optical transmission analysis was carried out via an UV-Vis spectrometer and the average transmittance around 80% out of entire devices in the visible-light wavelength range, implying high transparency. To investigate the thickness dependence on the properties of RS layer, 50nm, 100nm and 150nm RS layer of IGZO RRAM were fabricated. Also, the oxygen partial pressure during the sputtering of IGZO was varied to optimize the property because the oxygen vacancy concentration governs the RS and RRAM performance. Electrode selection is crucial and can impact the performance of the whole device [7]. Thus, Cu TE was chosen for our second type of device because the diffusion of Cu ions can be beneficial for the formation the conductive filament (CF). Finally, a ~5 nm SiO2 barrier layer was employed between TE and RS layers to confine the diffusion of Cu into the RS layer. At the same time, this SiO2 inserting layer can provide an additional interfacial series resistance in the device to lower the off current, consequently, improve the on/off ratio and whole performance. In conclusion, the transparent IGZO-based RRAMs were established. To tune the property of RS layer, the thickness layer and sputtering conditions of RS were adjusted. In order to engineer the diffusion capability of the TE material to the RS layer and the BE, a set of TE materials and a barrier layer were integrated in IGZO-based RRAM and the performance was compared. Our encouraging results clearly demonstrate that IGZO is a promising material in RRAM applications and overcoming the bottleneck of current memory technologies. 

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