Ion-Conductive Hydrogel-Based Stretchable, Self-Healing, and Transparent NO₂ Sensor with High Sensitivity and...

Here stretchable, self-healable, and transparent gas sensors based on salt-infiltrated hydrogels for high-performance NO₂ sensing in both anaerobic environment and air at room temperature, are reported. The salt-infiltrated hydrogel displays high sensitivity to NO₂ (119.9%/ppm), short response and recovery time (29.8 and 41.0 s, respectively), good linearity, low theoretical limit of detection (LOD) of 86 ppt, high selectivity, stability, and conductivity. A new gas sensing mechanism based on redox reactions occurring at the electrode-hydrogel interface is proposed to understand the sensing behaviors. The gas sensing performance of hydrogel is greatly improved by incorporating calcium chloride (CaCl₂ ) in the hydrogel via a facile salt-infiltration strategy, leading to a higher sensitivity (2.32 times) and much lower LOD (0.06 times). Notably, both the gas sensing ability, conductivity, and mechanical deformability of hydrogels are readily self-healable after cutting off and reconnection. Such large deformations as 100% strain do not deprive the gas sensing capability, but rather shorten the response and recovery time significantly. The CaCl₂ -infiltrated hydrogel shows excellent selectivity of NO₂ , with good immunity to the interference gases. These results indicate that the salt-infiltrated hydrogel has great potential for wearable electronics equipped with gas sensing capability in both anaerobic and aerobic environments.