Flexible Ti₃C₂T_x-Polyurethane Electrodes for Versatile Wearable Applications

With the development of science and technology, wearable electronics are increasingly widely used in medical, environmental monitoring, and other fields. Thus, the demand for flexible electrodes is increasing. The two-dimensional material Ti₃C₂T_x has attracted much attention in the manufacture of flexible electrodes due to its excellent mechanical and electrical properties. However, the brittleness of pure Ti₃C₂T_x films has become a major obstacle for their use as flexible electrodes in wearable devices. Therefore, solving the brittleness problem of flexible electrodes based on Ti₃C₂T_x while maintaining the excellent performance of Ti₃C₂T_x has become an urgent problem. To solve this problem, Ti₃C₂T_x was compounded with waterborne polyurethane (WPU), and a Ti₃C₂T_x-WPU composite film with a hierarchical structure was constructed by evaporation-assisted self-assembly. The Ti₃C₂T_x-WPU composite film not only retains the excellent electrical conductivity of Ti₃C₂T_x (100 S m^-1) but also has flexibility (20 MJ m^-3). Furthermore, the Ti₃C₂T_x-WPU composite film is applied to functional devices such as contact pressure sensors and non-contact proximity sensors. Finally, the Ti₃C₂T_x-WPU composite film wearable device demonstrates its practical application potential in the field of wearable devices.