Multifunctional, energy-autonomous textile sensors enabled by spray-coated two-dimensional heterostructures
Source abstract
Abstract
Abstract Two-dimensional (2D) materials offer unprecedented opportunities for energy-autonomous wearable electronics, yet their scalable and environmentally friendly integration into textiles remains a major challenge. Here, we introduce an ultrasonic spray-coating method to fabricate water-processable, surfactant-free 2D heterostructures comprising graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) as electronic dyes on textile fabrics. The resulting lightweight (~1 g/device), flexible textile-integrated triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) demonstrate a record-high power density of 793 mW m -2 among single-phase TMD-based textile devices. These TENGs enable self-powered, wearable detection of environmental and physiological parameters, including atmospheric humidity, body temperature, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as acetone and styrene, via a tap-to-sense mechanism. The sensor achieves a record-breaking responsivity of 126% for styrene vapours, making it the first wearable, self-powered styrene sensor. The device’s multifunctionality – driven by thermal modulation of charge transport in the MoS 2 layer – enables reliable body temperature detection with minimal cross-sensitivity to humidity or VOCs, crucial under real-world fluctuations. The sensor maintains mechanical resilience and operational stability over 80 days of continuous use and after 200 bending cycles. This work advances scalable, sustainable strategies for multifunctional, self-powered textile sensors and paves the way toward wearable personalised healthcare technologies with accurate multiparameter sensing.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials · Gas Sensing Nanomaterials and Sensors · 2D Materials and Applications
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (65)
Show source-provided references
1. Meena, J. S., Choi, S. B., Jung, S.-B. & Kim, J.-W. Electronic textiles: new age of wearable technology for healthcare and fitness solutions. Mater. Today Bio 19, 100565 (2023).10.1016/j.mtbio.2023.100565 ↗
2. Libanori, A., Chen, G., Zhao, X., Zhou, Y. & Chen, J. Smart textiles for personalized healthcare. Nat. Electron. 5, 142–156 (2022).10.1038/s41928-022-00723-z ↗
3. Sohail, A., Ali, A., Shaukat, H., Bhatti, F. M. & Ali, S. Integrating self-powered medical devices with advanced energy harvesting: a review. Energy Strat. Rev. 52, 101328 (2024).10.1016/j.esr.2024.101328 ↗
4. Tat, T., Libanori, A., Au, C., Yau, A. & Chen, J. Advances in triboelectric nanogenerators for biomedical sensing. Biosens. Bioelectron. 171, 112714 (2021).10.1016/j.bios.2020.112714 ↗
5. Kim, D. W., Lee, J. H., Kim, J. K. & Jeong, U. Material aspects of triboelectric energy generation and sensors. NPG Asia Mater 12, 1–17 (2020).10.1038/s41427-019-0187-x ↗
6. Tao, Q., Liu, S., Zhang, J., Li, X. & Tao, G. Clinical applications of smart wearable sensors. iScience 26, 107485 (2023).10.1016/j.isci.2023.107485 ↗
7. Hu, J. & Dong, M. Recent advances in two-dimensional nanomaterials for sustainable wearable electronic devices. J. Nanobiotechnol. 22, 1–20 (2024).10.1186/s12951-023-02274-7 ↗
8. Sun, Y. et al. Wearable biodevices based on two-dimensional materials: from flexible sensors to smart integrated systems. Nano Micro Lett 17, 109 (2025).10.1007/s40820-024-01597-w ↗
9. Bolotsky, A., Butler, D., Dong, C., Gerace, K. & Glavin, N. R. Two-dimensional materials in biosensing and healthcare: From in vitro diagnostics to optogenetics and beyond. ACS Nano 13, 9781–9810 (2019).10.1021/acsnano.9b03632 ↗
10. Tan, W. C. & Ang, K.-W. Volatile organic compound sensors based on 2D materials. Adv. Electron. Mater. 7, 2001071 (2021).10.1002/aelm.202001071 ↗
11. Hayasaka, T. et al. An electronic nose using a single graphene FET and machine learning for water, methanol, and ethanol. Microsyst. Nanoeng. 6, 1–13 (2020).10.1038/s41378-020-0161-3 ↗
12. Kovalska, E., Lesongeur, P., Hogan, B. T. & Baldycheva, A. Multi-layer graphene as a selective detector for future lung cancer biosensing platforms. Nanoscale 11, 2476–2483 (2019).10.1039/C8NR08405J ↗
13. Sardana, S., Kaur, H., Arora, B., Aswal, D. K. & Mahajan, A. Self-powered monitoring of ammonia using an MXene/TiO2/cellulose nanofiber heterojunction-based sensor driven by an electrospun triboelectric nanogenerator. ACS Sens 7, 312–321 (2022).10.1021/acssensors.1c02388 ↗
14. Sardana, S. et al. Flexible, humidity- and contamination-resistant superhydrophobic MXene-based electrospun triboelectric nanogenerators for distributed energy harvesting applications. Nanoscale 15, 19369–19380 (2023).10.1039/D3NR04537D ↗
15. Lee, Y. et al. Flexible ferroelectric sensors with ultrahigh pressure sensitivity and linear response over exceptionally broad pressure range. ACS Nano 12, 4045–4054 (2018).10.1021/acsnano.8b01805 ↗
16. Liu, Q., Chen, J., Li, Y. & Shi, G. High-performance strain sensors with fish-scale-like graphene-sensing layers for full-range detection of human motions. ACS Nano 10, 7901–7906 (2016).10.1021/acsnano.6b03813 ↗
17. Liao, M. et al. Wearable, healable, and adhesive epidermal sensors assembled from mussel-inspired conductive hybrid hydrogel framework. Adv. Funct. Mater. 27, 1703852 (2017).10.1002/adfm.201703852 ↗
18. Domingos, I. et al. Printed graphene electrodes for textile-embedded triboelectric nanogenerators for biomechanical sensing. Nano Energy 115, 108688 (2023).10.1016/j.nanoen.2023.108688 ↗
19. Lin, Z. et al. Graphene biointerface for cardiac arrhythmia diagnosis and treatment. Adv. Mater. 35, 2212190 (2023).10.1002/adma.202212190 ↗
20. Kireev, D. et al. Fabrication, characterization and applications of graphene electronic tattoos. Nat. Protoc. 16, 2395–2417 (2021).10.1038/s41596-020-00489-8 ↗
21. Guo, Y. et al. Wearable thermoelectric devices based on Au-decorated two-dimensional MoS2. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 10, 33316–33321 (2018).10.1021/acsami.8b10720 ↗
22. Chhetry, A. et al. Black phosphorus@laser-engraved graphene heterostructure-based temperature–strain hybridized sensor for electronic-skin applications. Adv. Funct. Mater. 31, 2007661 (2021).10.1002/adfm.202007661 ↗
23. Kovalska, E., Baldycheva, A. & Somov, A. Wireless graphene-enabled wearable temperature sensor. J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 1571, 012001 (2020).10.1088/1742-6596/1571/1/012001 ↗
24. Rajan, G. et al. Low operating voltage carbon–graphene hybrid e-textile for temperature sensing. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 12, 29861–29867 (2020).10.1021/acsami.0c08397 ↗
25. Huo, Z., Wei, Y., Wang, Y., Wang, Z. L. & Sun, Q. Integrated self-powered sensors based on 2D material devices. Adv. Funct. Mater. 32, 2206900 (2022).10.1002/adfm.202206900 ↗
26. Kovalska, E. et al. Textile beeswax triboelectric nanogenerator as self-powered sound detectors and mechano-acoustic energy harvesters. Nano Energy 120, 109109 (2024).10.1016/j.nanoen.2023.109109 ↗
27. Sadanandan, K. S. et al. Fabric-based triboelectric nanogenerators with ultrasonic spray coated graphene electrodes. Nano Energy 116, 108797 (2023).10.1016/j.nanoen.2023.108797 ↗
28. Mahapatra et al. Textile-integrated MoS2-PDMS single electrode triboelectric nanogenerator for vibrational energy harvesting and biomechanical motion sensing. Nano Energy 116, 108829 (2023).10.1016/j.nanoen.2023.108829 ↗
29. Ali, I., Karim, N. & Afroj, S. Textile-based triboelectric nanogenerators integrated with 2D materials. EcoMat 6, e12471 (2024).10.1002/eom2.12471 ↗
30. Zhang, H. et al. MoS2-based charge trapping layer enabled triboelectric nanogenerator with assistance of CNN-GRU model for intelligent perception. Nano Energy 127, 109753 (2024).10.1016/j.nanoen.2024.109753 ↗
31. Huang, Y. et al. Highly flexible fabric strain sensor based on graphene nanoplatelet–polyaniline nanocomposites for human gesture recognition. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 134, 45340 (2017).10.1002/app.45340 ↗
32. Chekke, T. et al. 2D WS2 based single electrode triboelectric nanogenerator for power generation and motion sensing. J. Electron. Mater. 52, 2685–2694 (2023).10.1007/s11664-023-10231-1 ↗
33. Chekke, T. et al. Cotton based self powered temperature sensor based on Au augmented WS2 triboelectric nanogenerator. J. Electron. Mater. 53, 238–249 (2024).10.1007/s11664-023-10774-3 ↗
34. Veeralingam, S. & Badhulika, S. Ti@MoS2 incorporated Polypropylene/Nylon fabric-based porous, breathable triboelectric nanogenerator as respiration sensor and ammonia gas sensor applications. Sens. Actuators B Chem. 380, 133346 (2023).10.1016/j.snb.2023.133346 ↗
35. Fan, B. et al. Robust flexible textile tribovoltaic nanogenerator via a 2D 2H-MoS2/Ta4C3 dynamic heterojunction. Adv. Funct. Mater. 33, 2301821 (2023).10.1002/adfm.202301821 ↗
36. Kenaz, R. R. et al. Thickness mapping and layer number identification of exfoliated van der Waals materials by Fourier imaging micro-ellipsometry. ACS Nano 17, 9188–9196 (2023).10.1021/acsnano.2c12773 ↗
37. Zhang, H.-X., Shin, B.-G., Lee, D.-E. & Yoon, K.-B. Preparation of PP/2D-nanosheet composites using MoS2/MgCl2- and BN/MgCl2-bisupported Ziegler–Natta catalysts. Catalysts 10, 596 (2020).10.3390/catal10060596 ↗
38. Huang, P., Wang, Z., Liu, Y., Zhang, K. & Yuan, L. Water-soluble 2D transition metal dichalcogenides as the hole-transport layer for highly efficient and stable p–i–n perovskite solar cells. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9, 25323–25331 (2017).10.1021/acsami.7b06403 ↗
39. Coogan, A. & Gun’ko, Y. K. Solution-based “bottom-up” synthesis of group VI transition metal dichalcogenides and their applications. Mater. Adv. 2, 146–164 (2021).10.1039/D0MA00697A ↗
40. Kovalska, E. et al. NLL-assisted multilayer graphene patterning. ACS Omega 3, 1546–1554 (2018).10.1021/acsomega.7b01853 ↗
41. Cong, X., Liu, X.-L., Lin, M.-L. & Tan, P.-H. Application of Raman spectroscopy to probe fundamental properties of two-dimensional materials. npj 2D Mater. Appl. 4, 1–12 (2020).10.1038/s41699-020-0140-4 ↗
42. Puretzky, A. A., Liang, L., Li, X., Xiao, K. & Wang, K. Low-frequency Raman fingerprints of two-dimensional metal dichalcogenide layer stacking configurations. ACS Nano 9, 6333–6342 (2015).10.1021/acsnano.5b01884 ↗
43. Tonndorf, P., Schmidt, P. R., Böttger, P., Zhang, X. & Börner, J. Photoluminescence emission and Raman response of monolayer MoS2, MoSe2, and WSe2. Opt. Express 21, 4908–4916 (2013).10.1364/OE.21.004908 ↗
44. Albuqami, M. H. et al. Integration of two-dimensional WS2 in flexible textile triboelectric nanogenerators via electronic dyeing for self-powered sensing. Nanoscale 17, 12080–12086 (2025).10.1039/D4NR05209A ↗
45. Bobbitt, N. S., Curry, J. F., Babuska, T. F. & Chandross, M. Water adsorption on MoS2 under realistic atmosphere conditions and impacts on tribology. RSC Adv. 14, 4717–4729 (2024).10.1039/D3RA07984H ↗
46. David, E. & Niculescu, V. C. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as environmental pollutants: occurrence and mitigation using nanomaterials. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 18, 13147 (2021).10.3390/ijerph182413147 ↗
47. Pathak, A. K., Swargiary, K., Kongsawang, N., Jitpratak, P. & Ajchareeyasoontorn, N. Recent advances in sensing materials targeting clinical volatile organic compound (VOC) biomarkers: a review. Biosens 13, 114 (2023).10.3390/bios13010114 ↗
48. Kovalska, E., Antonatos, N., Luxa, J. & Sofer, Z. Edge-hydrogenated germanene by electrochemical decalcification-exfoliation of CaGe2: germanene-enabled vapor sensor. ACS Nano 15, 16709–16718 (2021).10.1021/acsnano.1c06675 ↗
49. Kovalska, E. et al. Single-step synthesis of platinoid-decorated phosphorene: perspectives for catalysis, gas sensing, and energy storage. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 12, 50516–50526 (2020).10.1021/acsami.0c15525 ↗
50. Tisch, U. et al. Detection of asymptomatic nigrostriatal dopaminergic lesion in rats by exhaled air analysis using carbon nanotube sensors. ACS Chem. Neurosci. 3, 161–166 (2012).10.1021/cn200093r ↗
51. Zheng, J. et al. Indoor VOCs exposure induced Parkinson-like behaviors through autophagy dysfunction and NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated neuroinflammation. J. Hazard. Mater. 440, 129818 (2022).10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129818 ↗
52. Tisch, U. et al. Detection of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease from exhaled breath using nanomaterial-based sensors. Nanomedicine 8, 43–56 (2013).10.2217/nnm.12.105 ↗
53. Zhang, Z., Liu, L., Zhang, T. & Tang, H. Efficient Eu3+-Integrated UiO-66 Probe for Ratiometric Fluorescence Sensing of Styrene and Cyclohexanone. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 15, 18982–18991 (2023).10.1021/acsami.3c01204 ↗
54. Hu, Z. & Yan, B. A luminescent Eu@SOF film fabricated by electrophoretic deposition as ultrasensitive platform for styrene gas quantitative monitoring through fluorescence sensing and ANNs model. J. Hazard. Mater. 441, 129865 (2023).10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129865 ↗
55. Kałuża, D. et al. Polythiophene-based fluorimetric insight into minute styrene concentration in solution and gas phase. Opt. Mater. 123, 111848 (2022).10.1016/j.optmat.2021.111848 ↗
56. Kaluza, D. et al. Styrene detection in water by polythiophene nanoparticles suspension. ECS Meet. Abstr. 2388, MA2020–01 (2020).
57. Radica, F. et al. Real-time quantitative detection of styrene in atmosphere in presence of other volatile-organic compounds using a portable device. Talanta 233, 122510 (2021).10.1016/j.talanta.2021.122510 ↗
58. Daus, A. et al. Fast-response flexible temperature sensors with atomically thin molybdenum disulfide. Nano Lett. 22, 6135–6140 (2022).10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c01344 ↗
59. Li, W. et al. Large-scale ultra-robust MoS2 patterns directly synthesized on polymer substrate for flexible sensing electronics. Adv. Mater. 35, 2207447 (2023).10.1002/adma.202207447 ↗
60. Lu, C. X. et al. Temperature effect on performance of triboelectric nanogenerator. Adv. Eng. Mater. 19, 1700275 (2017).10.1002/adem.201700275 ↗
61. Pan, C. et al. Influence of temperature on the characteristics of surface charge accumulation on PTFE model insulators. In Proc. IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation 1210–1219 (2017).10.1109/TDEI.2017.006070 ↗
62. Yu, T. C., Wang, N., Ellenbogen, S. & Kao, C. H. L. Skinergy: machine-embroidered silicone-textile composites as on-skin self-powered input sensors. In Proc. 36th Annual ACM Symp. User Interface Software Technology, 1–15 (Association for Computing Machinery, 2023).10.1145/3586183.3606729 ↗
63. Babiuch, M., Foltýnek, P. & Smutný, P. Using the ESP32 microcontroller for data processing. In Proc. 20th International Carpathian Control Conference (ICCC), 1–6 (IEEE, 2019).10.1109/CarpathianCC.2019.8765944 ↗
64. Yuan, X., Zheng, W., Zhu, B., Wang, B. & Chen, Y. Study on the electrical insulation properties of modified PTFE at high temperatures. Polymers 16, 316 (2024).10.3390/polym16030316 ↗
65. Cherenack, K., Zysset, C., Kinkeldei, T., Münzenrieder, N. & Tröster, G. Woven electronic fibers with sensing and display functions for smart textiles. Adv. Mater. 22, 5178–5182 (2010).10.1002/adma.201002159 ↗