Stretchable Zn‐Ion Hybrid Battery with Reconfigurable V₂CT_x and Ti₃C₂T_x MXene Electrodes as a Magnetically Actuated Soft Robot

Abstract

Wearable and stretchable electronics have emerged as an unconventional branch of modern electronics and demonstrated their diverse applications in personalized healthcare Stretchable energy storage devices have become indispensable components toward energy autonomy for wearable electronic, implantable medical devices, and untethered soft machines. A Zn-based battery with a neutral electrolyte could act as a competitive candidate for wearable/implantable electronics because of its intrinsic safety and high energy density. Therefore, it is highly desired to develop a synergistic combination of stretchable anodes/ cathodes and neutral electrolytes for stretchable Zn-based batteries. Herein, a scalable fabrication process is developed to produce stretchable Zn-ion hybrid batteries composed of V 2 CT x MXene cathodes and zinc-decorated Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene anodes. To endow high stretchability to the Zn-ion hybrid battery, both MXene-based electrodes are fabricated with crumple-like microtextures enabling reversible folding/unfolding behaviors to attenuate in-plane stress while stretching. In comparison with the state-of-the-art work, the as-fabricated Zn-ion hybrid battery features large deformability (50% strain), ultrathin device (≈170 µm), low areal weight (≈20 mg cm −2 ), and an ultralow self-discharge rate (0.7 mV h −1 ), and demonstrates rechargeable and straininsensitive specific capacities of 118.5 and 103.6 mAh g −1 under 0% and 50% strains, respectively. Finally, with ultrathin and lightweight merits, the stretchable battery is further fabricated into a magnetically actuated soft robot with remote control, capable of crawling between two designated points for charging/discharging tasks.

Novel Strain Engineering Combined with a Microscopic Pore Synergistic Modulated Strategy for Designing Lattice Tensile-Strained Porous V2C-MXene for High-Performance Overall Water Splitting

“…Finally, the vanadium oxide nanoparticles are formed on the surface of V 2 C-MXene under different hydrothermal conditions. The lattice mismatch of heterogeneous interfaces on V 2 C-MXene’s surface could drive lattice tensile strain, and the internal stress caused by the vanadium oxide could make the chemical bond expand and widen the interplanar spacing, increasing the D-band center of the catalyst . Meanwhile, the lattice strain degree is positively correlated to the hydrothermal reaction time.…”

Recent advances in two-dimensional MXenes for zinc-ion batteries

“…19a). 171 The as-prepared Zn-ion hybrid battery shows characteristics of large deformability, ultrathin device, low areal weight, and ultralow self-discharge rate (0.7 mV h À1 , Fig. 19b).…”

Role of MXenes in advancing soft robotics

“…Many studies have focused on designing stretchable energy-storage devices for untethered soft robotics, wearable electronics, and implantable medical devices. Li et al 33 introduced a zinc (Zn)-based battery with high stretchability due to the presence of MXene (V 2 CT x ) cathodes and Zn-decorated MXene (Ti 3 C 2 T x ) anodes, showing crumple-like micro-textures allowing reversible folding/unfolding performances for attenuating the in-plane stress while stretching. This Zn-ion hybrid battery with ultrathin and lightweight advantages displayed large deformability and a low areal weight along with an ultralow self-discharge rate, offering suitable rechargeable and strain-insensitive specific capacities under 0% and 50% strains (∼118.5 and 103.6 mA h g −1 , respectively).…”

“…Such stretchable ultrathin batteries with their light weight could be employed in magnetically actuated soft robots. 33…”