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Gels for Flexible Electronics and Energy Devices (2nd Edition)
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Gels for Flexible Electronics and Energy Devices (2nd Edition)

A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This special issue belongs to the section "Gel Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 3094

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Yi-Zhou Zhang

grade E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Advanced Materials and Flexible Electronics (IAMFE), School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Interests: printed electronics; flexible electrochemical energy storage; MXene; hydrogels; 3D printing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Wen-Yong Lai

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Organic Electronics and Information Displays (SKLOEID), Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China
Interests: flexible electronics; printed electronics; organic light-emitting devices; organic lasers; organic semiconductors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are grateful to all authors, reviewers, and readers for their responses to the first edition of our Special Issue on “Gels for Flexible Electronics and Energy Devices”. You can access these articles for free via the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/gels/special_issues/Energy_Devices

It is our great pleasure to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue of Gels, “Gels for Flexible Electronics and Energy Devices (2nd Edition)”.

The field of flexible electronics has been undergoing a boom in development, showing promise to revolutionize healthcare, the Internet of Things, and everyday electronics, hallmarked by products such as electronic skins, soft robots, and human–machine interfaces. Gels, or more specifically, hydrogels, undoubtedly play a key role as materials for such applications due to their high biocompatibility, mechanical compliance, widely tunable properties, and interesting charge transport behaviors. These characteristics make gels good sensing units for flexible and stretchable pressure/strain sensors, electrolytes and separators that enable flexible electrochemical energy storage devices such as supercapacitors and batteries, and active materials in novel flexible generators that harvest energy from ambient environments, to name a few. The exponential growth in publications indicates the popularity of these lines of study; thus, this is an opportune moment to launch a Special Issue that focuses on these new applications of gels (in electronics, sensing, and energy storage and harvesting). Both research and review papers that are related to this topic are welcome. We look forward to receiving your contributions!

Prof. Dr. Yi-Zhou Zhang
Prof. Dr. Wen-Yong Lai
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • hydrogels
  • flexible sensors
  • strain/pressure sensors
  • gel electrolytes
  • flexible batteries
  • flexible supercapacitors
  • energy harvesting

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 4879 KiB  
Article
Sol–Gel-Synthesized Pt, Ni and Co-Based Electrocatalyst Effects of the Support Type, Characterization, and Possible Application in AEM-URFC
by Elitsa Stanislavova Petkucheva, Borislava Mladenova, Mohsin Muhyuddin, Mariela Dimitrova, Galin Rusev Borisov, Carlo Santoro and Evelina Slavcheva
Gels 2025, 11(4), 229; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels11040229 - 22 Mar 2025
Viewed by 456
Abstract
This study explores the synthesis and characterization of platinum (Pt), nickel (Ni), and cobalt (Co)-based electrocatalysts using the sol–gel method. The focus is on the effect of different support materials on the catalytic performance in alkaline media. The sol–gel technique enables the production [...] Read more.
This study explores the synthesis and characterization of platinum (Pt), nickel (Ni), and cobalt (Co)-based electrocatalysts using the sol–gel method. The focus is on the effect of different support materials on the catalytic performance in alkaline media. The sol–gel technique enables the production of highly uniform electrocatalysts, supported on carbon-based substrates, metal oxides, and conductive polymers. Various characterization techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), were used to analyze the structure of the synthesized materials, while their electrochemical properties, which are relevant to their application in unitized regenerative fuel cells (URFCs), were investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). This hydrogen energy-converting device integrates water electrolyzers and fuel cells into a single system, reducing weight, volume, and cost. However, their performance is constrained by the electrocatalyst’s oxygen bifunctional activity. To improve URFC efficiency, an ideal electrocatalyst should exhibit high oxygen evolution (OER) and oxygen reduction (ORR) activity with a low bifunctionality index (BI). The present study evaluated the prepared electrocatalysts in an alkaline medium, finding that Pt25-Co75/XC72R and Pt75-Co25/N82 demonstrated promising bifunctional activity. The results suggest that these electrocatalysts are well-suited for both electrolysis and fuel cell operation in anion exchange membrane-unitized regenerative fuel cells (AEM-URFCs), contributing to improved round-trip efficiency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels for Flexible Electronics and Energy Devices (2nd Edition))
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15 pages, 6113 KiB  
Article
Influence of Synthesis Conditions on the Capacitance Performance of Hydrothermally Prepared MnO2 for Carbon Xerogel-Based Solid-State Supercapacitors
by Vania Ilcheva, Victor Boev, Mariela Dimitrova, Borislava Mladenova, Daniela Karashanova, Elefteria Lefterova, Natalia Rey-Raap, Ana Arenillas and Antonia Stoyanova
Gels 2025, 11(1), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels11010068 - 15 Jan 2025
Viewed by 798
Abstract
In this study, the potential to modify the phase structure and morphology of manganese dioxide synthesized via the hydrothermal route was explored. A series of samples were prepared at different synthesis temperatures (100, 120, 140, and 160 °C) using KMnO4 and MnSO [...] Read more.
In this study, the potential to modify the phase structure and morphology of manganese dioxide synthesized via the hydrothermal route was explored. A series of samples were prepared at different synthesis temperatures (100, 120, 140, and 160 °C) using KMnO4 and MnSO4·H2O as precursors. The phase composition and morphology of the materials were analyzed using various physicochemical methods. The results showed that, at the lowest synthesis temperature (100 °C), an intercalation compound with composition K1.39Mn3O6 and a very small amount of α-MnO2 was formed. At higher temperatures (120–160 °C), the amount of α-MnO2 increased, indicating the formation of two clearly distinguished crystal structures. The sample obtained at 160 °C exhibited the highest specific surface area (approximately 157 m2/g). These two-phase (α-MnO2/K1.39Mn3O6) materials, synthesized at the lowest and highest temperatures, respectively, and containing an appropriate amount of carbon xerogel, were tested as active mass for positive electrodes in a solid-state supercapacitor, using a Na+-form Aquivion® membrane as the polymer electrolyte. The electrochemical evaluation showed that the composite with the higher specific surface area, containing 75% manganese dioxide, demonstrated improved characteristics, including 96% capacitance retention after 5000 charge/discharge cycles and high energy efficiency (approximately 99%). These properties highlight its potential for application in solid-state supercapacitors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels for Flexible Electronics and Energy Devices (2nd Edition))
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15 pages, 2507 KiB  
Article
Alkali Ion-Accelerated Gelation of MXene-Based Conductive Hydrogel for Flexible Sensing and Machine Learning-Assisted Recognition
by Weidan Na, Chao Xu, Lei An, Changjin Ou, Fan Gao, Guoyin Zhu and Yizhou Zhang
Gels 2024, 10(11), 720; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels10110720 - 7 Nov 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1391
Abstract
Conductive hydrogels are promising active materials for wearable flexible electronics, yet it is still challenging to fabricate conductive hydrogels with good environmental stability and electrical properties. In this work, a conductive MXene/LiCl/poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) hydrogel system was successfully prepared with an impressive conductivity of [...] Read more.
Conductive hydrogels are promising active materials for wearable flexible electronics, yet it is still challenging to fabricate conductive hydrogels with good environmental stability and electrical properties. In this work, a conductive MXene/LiCl/poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) hydrogel system was successfully prepared with an impressive conductivity of 12.2 S/m. Interestingly, the synergistic effect of MXene and a lithium bond can significantly accelerate the polymerization process, forming the conductive hydrogel within 1 min. In addition, adding LiCl to the hydrogel not only significantly increases its water retention ability, but also enhances its conductivity, both of which are important for practical applications. The flexible strain sensors based on the as-prepared hydrogel have demonstrated excellent monitoring ability for human joint motion, pulse, and electromyographic signals. More importantly, based on machine learning image recognition technology, the handwritten letter recognition system displayed a high accuracy rate of 93.5%. This work demonstrates the excellent comprehensive performance of MXene-based hydrogels in health monitoring and image recognition and shows potential applications in human–machine interfaces and artificial intelligence. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels for Flexible Electronics and Energy Devices (2nd Edition))
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