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.
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