Feihu Li, Zhipeng Wang, Yangyang Long, Jiabao Wang, Bowen Yang, Yeguang Zhang, Fang Fang, Peng Wang, Zili Zhan, Minghui Yang
Flexible electrochemical gas sensors are promising for wearable electronics, yet conventional hydrogel electrolytes suffer from water evaporation, interfacial instability, and performance degradation under long-term operation. Here, we report a self-powered flexible NO2 electrochemical sensor based on a zinc-air battery (ZAB) structure using a poly(4-acryloylmorpholine)-sodium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide-propylene carbonate (PACMO-NaTFSI-PC) organogel electrolyte. The nonvolatile organogel effectively suppresses solvent evaporation and eliminates dehydration-induced failure associated with conventional hydrogels. Meanwhile, the high dielectric constant of propylene carbonate promotes ionic dissociation, while weakly coordinated TFSI- anions optimize Zn2+ solvation and accelerate ion transport within the organogel network. The optimized sensor exhibits excellent environmental stability together with high NO2 sensing performance, including a sensitivity of 1158.9 nA/ppm, rapid response/recovery times of 25.6/19.5 s, and a low detection limit of 3.6 ppb. This work provides a viable strategy for developing highly stable self-powered flexible gas sensors for wearable sensing applications under harsh operating conditions.