Highly sensitive, self-powered and ultra-stretchable amphibious ionogel artificial skin

Ionogel, a novel flexible electronic material, presents a plethora of applications. Despite its potential, the fabrication of multifunctional ionogel with high-performance suitable for diverse scenarios remains a significant challenge. In this study, we prepare a multifunctional amphibious ionogel skin (AIGS) using a polymerizable ionic liquid (PIL) and a conductive ionic liquid (IL) in conjunction with titanium carbide (Ti₃C₂T_x-MXene). The resulting soft AIGS materials exhibit ductility, self-healing, and robust adhesion in mechanical properties due to non-covalent interactions, such as ion-dipole interactions and hydrogen bonding. They also demonstrate a wide sensing range (2%‒400%), high sensing sensitivity (gauge factor (GF) up to 6.06), and stable sensing performance (good reliability and stability after strain) in electrical properties. The hydrophobic and dynamic viscoelastic network formed by extensive C−F bonds in the used polymer matrix, ensures the AIGS’s suitability for amphibious environments. We find that AIGS has excellent triboelectric properties. Utilizing AIGS as a flexible electrode, a single-electrode triboelectric nanogenerator (SE-TENG) was constructed, achieving outstanding output performance (~300 V open-circuit voltage, 172 nA short-circuit current, and 34 nC transferred charge). This device can power commercial portable electronic devices and identify different body movements. AIGS-based wearable strain sensors have also been shown to reliably detect human motion, including larger limb movements such as finger flexion and elbow flexion and extension, as well as subtle muscle movements such as frowning and swallowing. In addition, depending on the characteristics of the AIGS application in amphibious environments, the following functions can be realized simultaneously. AIGS in an aquatic environment combined with machine learning for intelligent recognition of breathing type, in an underwater environment combined with Morse code to convey simple information, and motion monitoring in an amphibious environment, demonstrates its potential feasibility in a variety of situations.