Green synthesis of Ag-doped cellulose aerogel for highly sensitive, flame retardant strain sensors

Although the high-value utilization of the extensive agroforestry cellulose has attracted more and more attention, the manufacture of cellulose-based flexible sensors with flame retardance is still a promising but challenging work. In this work, we report a silver nanoparticles and phytic acid coated bacterial cellulose (Ag/PA@BC) composite aerogel with high piezoresistive sensitivity and flame retardance, which conquers the intrinsic inflammability of biomass aerogels. Biological phytic acid is used as both flame retardant and complexing agent for the green synthesis of Ag. The resulted Ag/PA@BC aerogel sensor shows high sensitivity (6.92 kPa−1), ultralow detection limit (28 Pa), short response time (200 ms), and good reproducibility. Furthermore, the aerogel sensor exhibits excellent flame retardant performance which can self-extinguish after ignition. The green synthesized biomass aerogel sensor with desirable sensitivity and excellent flame retardance presents great potential in health care, portable equipment and human–machine interaction, etc.