Stretchable and Recyclable Nanoporous Semiconducting Polymer Aerogels for Highly Sensitive Biosensors, Electronic Skins, and Artificial Synapses
Puzhong Gu, Xu Liu, Zexu Hu, Zejun Sun, Linlin Lu, Xiao Yang, Guoqing Zu, Jia Huang
Abstract
Abstract Stretchable and recyclable organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) have emerged as a promising platform for flexible and green electronics. However, stretchable OECTs and OECT‐based sensors usually show limited transconductance and sensitivity. Herein, stretchable, recyclable, high‐transconductance, and multifunctional OECTs based on nanoporous semiconducting polymer aerogels are developed. The flexible nanoporous structures (pore size ≈ 10–160 nm) effectively facilitate ion penetration/transport and doping of semiconductor, significantly enhancing transconductance of the stretchable OECTs and sensitivity of the OECT‐based sensors. The resulting OECT achieves a high transconductance of 27.4 mS and high stretching stability. Notably, both the semiconducting aerogel and substrate are recyclable, achieving the recyclability of the OECTs. It is demonstrated that the stretchable nanoporous aerogel OECTs can be used as platforms for various applications, including ultrasensitive stretchable biosensors for monitoring trace amount of biomarkers in biological fluids, stretchable tactile electronic skins with an ultralow detection limit (0.5 Pa), and artificial synapses for neuromorphic simulation. This work provides a versatile strategy toward stretchable nanoporous semiconducting polymers promising for sustainable, stretchable, and highly sensitive electronics.