Two-birds-one-stone: Flexible PANI film with bionic microstructures for multifunctional sensing of physical and chemical stimuli

Flexible and wearable electronic multifunctional sensors have promising applications in healthcare detection, electronic skins (e-skins) and motion detection. However, it remains a great challenge to manufacture eco-friendly sensors that are versatile, flexible, transparent, comfortable to wear and suitable for mass production. A special flexible transparent polyaniline (PANI) film with a bionic rose micro-dome structure was designed via an eco-friendly and scalable manufacturing approach. Benefiting from the special micro-structure modification, the multifunctional flexible sensor presents high sensitivity to different stimuli, including pressure and VOC gases. Taking advantages of the construction of the rose micro-dome structure, the structured PANI (s-PANI) film exhibits high sensitivity (1.104 kPa−1), ultra-low detection limit (0.64 Pa), and it can accurately monitor small movements of the human body. Moreover, due to the high moisture resistance of s-PANI film and the increased contact area with NH3, it has increased sensitivity in response to NH3 and can reach detection limit as low as 10 ppb. This novel and cost-effective strategy for the simple preparation of high-performance, multifunctional and flexible PANI film offers the opportunity to develop environmentally friendly devices on a large scale.