Self-Powered, Self-Healed, and Shape-Adaptive Ultraviolet Photodetectors

Abstract

The emergence of self-healing devices in recent years has drawn a great amount of attention in both academics and industry. Self-healed devices can autonomically restore a rupture as unexpected destruction occurs, which can efficiently prolong the life span of the devices; hence, they have an enhanced durability and decreased replacement cost. As a result, integration of wearable devices with self-healed electronics has become an indispensable issue in smart wearable devices. In this study, we present the first self-powered, self-healed, and wearable ultraviolet (UV) photodetector based on the integration of agarose/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) double network (DN) hydrogels, which have the advantages of good mechanical strength, self-healing ability, and tolerability of multiple types of damage. With the integration of a DN hydrogel substrate, the photodetector enables 90% of the initial efficiency to be restored after five healing cycles, and each rapid healing time is suppressed to only 10 s. The proposed device has several merits, including having an all spray coating, self-sustainability, biocompatibility, good sensitivity, mechanical flexibility, and an outstanding healing ability, which are all essential to build smart electronic systems. The unprecedented self-healed photodetector expands the future scope of electronic skin design, and it also offers a new platform for the development of next-generation wearable electronics.