Vanadium Dioxide Nanosheets Supported on Carbonized Cotton Fabric as Bifunctional Textiles for Flexible Pressure Sensors and Zinc-Ion Batteries

Flexible pressure sensors and aqueous batteries have been widely used in the rapid development of wearable electronics. The synergistic functionalities of versatile materials with multidimensional architectures are recognized to have a significant impact on the performance of flexible electronics. Herein, a facile hydrothermal strategy was demonstrated to conformally grow vanadium dioxide nanosheets on carbonized cotton fabrics (VO2/CCotton), which is a candidate material used in flexible piezoresistive sensors. As a result, the VO2/CCotton-based pressure sensor behaved with high sensitivity (S = 7.12 kPa–1 in the pressure range of 0–2.0 kPa) and a stable sensing ability in a wide pressure scale of 0–120 kPa. Further practical applications were performed in monitoring delicate physiological signals as well, such as twisting, blowing, and voice vibration recognitions. In addition, another application for energy storage was investigated as well. A quasi-solid-state aqueous zinc-ion battery was assembled with VO2/CCotton as the cathode and a film of Zn nanosheets/carbon nanotube as the anode. A capacity as high as 301.5 mAh g–1 and remarkable durability of 88.7% capacity retention after 5000 cycles at 10 A g–1 were found. These exceptional outcomes are attributed to the unique three-dimensional architecture and the prominent synergetic effects of CCotton and VO2 and allow for the proposal of novel guidelines for next-generation multifunctional flexible electronics.