Biomass aerogel composite containing BaTiO3 nanoparticles and MXene for highly sensitive self-powered sensor and photothermal antibacterial applications

Biomass aerogel materials are increasingly attracting researchers’ attention because of good biocompatibility of biomass materials and multiple functional features of aerogel materials. Herein, novel biomass aerogel composite was fabricated by doping hydroxylated barium titanate (BT-OH) nanoparticles and MXene in chitosan/bacterial cellulose (CB) aerogel by simple methods containing chemical modification, physical mixture and lyophilization. The novel aerogel composite named CB/BT-OH/MXene showed favorable piezoelectric properties and excellent photothermal antibacterial properties. The aerogel composite-based piezoelectric sensor displayed short response time (0.4 s), high response sensitivity (800 mV/N), and long cycle stability (over 1000 cycles), which could monitor various body movements, including fingers bending, speaking, wrist bending, elbow bending, smiling, and walking. Moreover, the aerogel composite possessed satisfactory photothermal conversion ability, which could reach 55 ℃ by 10 s of near-infrared irradiation (808 nm, 0.2 W/cm2), successfully achieving complete sterilization effect towards S. aureus and E. coli. The novel biomass aerogel composite may find its potential applications in wearable or implantable self-powered sensors with satisfactory antibacterial performance.