Self-Powered Infrared-Responsive Electronic Skin Employing Piezoelectric Nanofiber Nanocomposites Driven by Microphase Transition

Infrared light (IR) detection principles limited by poor photoresponsivity and sparse photogenerated carrier make them impossible to directly applied in flexible IR sensing field attributed to low π–π conjugation effect, thick P–N junction, and harsh band gap, of which IR self-powered electronic skin (e-skin) strongly relies on the essential property of exotic photosensitive-exciting materials, hardly any flexible organic polymer or nanocomposites. Here, an innovative IR self-powered principle is reported that outstanding piezoelectric effect of poly­(vinylidene fluoride) nanofibers (PVDF NFs) is driven by microcrystals’ volume expansion caused by the solid–solid phase transition of PVDF/multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)/highly elastic phase change polymer (HEPCP) (PMH) nanocomposites due to MWCNT’s excellent IR photoabsorption and thermal conversion capabilities. A flexible IR-sensitive nanocomposite is successfully developed employing PVDF/HEPCP NFs as the framework of a three-dimensional network structure wrapped by the MWCNT/HEPCP nanocomposite. The 33, 50, and 60 wt % PMH nanocomposites are demonstrated cyclic, IR-regulated on/off piezoelectric sensitivity of 889.7, 977.6, and 493.8 mV/(mW·mm–2) at IR powers of 5.3 mW/mm2, respectively. Furthermore, IR self-powered e-skin has been developed successfully and realized an accurate IR stimulus-sensing location due to the sensitivity, which depends on the size of the sensing area. This innovative strategy provides a new route to the fundamental science and applications of flexible IR self-powered devices, such as e-skin, artificial vision, soft robots, active surveillance sensors, etc.