Ученые создали нить, которая одновременно вырабатывает электричество и обнаруживает ядовитый газ

# A Single Fiber Simultaneously Generates Electricity and Detects Hydrogen Sulfide Gas # Self-Powered Safety Sensor Shows Promise for Smart Clothing, Industrial Safety Monitoring, and Next-Generation IoT Sensors Newswise — CHANGWON, South Korea — Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS), led by President Chul-jin Choi, announced that research teams led by Myungkwan Song of the Energy & Environment Materials Research Division and Hee-jung Lee of the Composites & Convergence Materials Research Division, in collaboration with teams led by Professor Hyung Woo Lee of Pusan National University and Professor Myunghun Shin of Korea Aerospace University, have developed a multifunctional fiber-shaped electronic device capable of both generating electricity and detecting hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) gas. The achievement demonstrates that a single fiber can function as a self-powered safety sensor that generates its own electricity while detecting hazardous gases. The technology is expected to accelerate the practical application of smart clothing and wearable devices for industrial safety. With the rapid advancement of wearable electronics and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, the development of next-generation fiber-shaped electronic devices capable of generating their own power while monitoring the surrounding environment without dependence on external power sources has emerged as an important research field. However, conventional fiber-shaped solar cells have faced limitations in power conversion efficiency and durability. Most have also been limited to a single function, such as power generation, restricting their practical use in wearable environments. To overcome these limitations, the research team developed a multifunctional fiber-shaped electronic device based on metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), adding hazardous gas detection capability to the power generation function of a conventional fiber-shaped solar cell. The core of the technology lies in combining a fiber-shaped dye-sensitized solar cell, in which a dye absorbs light to generate electricity, with MOF materials capable of effectively capturing hazardous gases such as hydrogen sulfide. MOFs are porous materials composed of metal ions and organic linkers connected in three-dimensional networks. Their large internal surface areas and well-defined pores enable them to adsorb more dye molecules in solar cells, thereby improving power conversion efficiency. When exposed to hazardous gases, their surfaces and pores can also rapidly capture gas molecules. The researchers synthesized functional MOF materials by separately introducing electron-withdrawing fluoro groups (–F) and electron-donating amino groups (–NH₂) into UiO-66, a representative MOF. The resulting UiO-66-F and UiO-66-NH₂ materials were incorporated into the titanium dioxide (TiO₂) photoelectrode of a fiber-shaped dye-sensitized solar cell to facilitating charge transport. At the same time, the MOF surfaces and pores were engineered to interact effectively with hydrogen sulfide, enabling power generation and hazardous gas detection within a single fiber device. The developed fiber-shaped device not only generated electricity and detected hazardous gases but also demonstrated stable performance under conditions relevant to practical wear. It achieved a power conversion efficiency of 7.16%, representing an approximately 29% improvement over a conventional TiO₂photoelectrode. The device generated electricity under both strong sunlight and indoor lighting, demonstrating its potential as a self-powered energy source in everyday environments. It also responded to hydrogen sulfide gas within approximately nine seconds, demonstrating rapid sensing performance. The device retained approximately 80% of its initial performance after more than 1,500 bending cycles and maintained more than 80% of its performance after 20 washing cycles. These results demonstrate the mechanical flexibility and wash durability needed for use in environments where electronic fibers are repeatedly bent and washed like ordinary fabrics. The achievement expands the potential applications of wearable electronic textiles by enabling a single fiber to serve as both a power source and a sensor. When incorporated into clothing or other wearable forms, the device can harvest ambient light to generate electricity while simultaneously detecting exposure to hazardous gases. Potential applications include worker safety management at industrial sites, environmental monitoring, smart clothing, and self-powered IoT sensors. By reducing reliance on external power supplies and separate sensing components, the technology could provide a lightweight and flexible platform for next-generation safety and environmental monitoring systems. “This study integrated functional MOF materials developed by Dr. Hee-jung Lee’s research team into a fiber-shaped solar cell and gas-sensor platform, enabling energy generation and gas detection within a single fiber device,” said Myungkwan Song, principal researcher and project leader at KIMS. “By improving power generation performance while incorporating sensing functionality into a fiber-shaped electronic device, we have demonstrated new possibilities for next-generation wearable electronic textiles.”“We plan to systematically analyze hazardous gas-sensing characteristics using a wider range of MOF materials and establish a related database to further expand the applicability of self-powered sensor devices,” he added. The research was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT through KIMS’s institutional research program, the Global Leading Research Center Program, and the Global TOP Strategic Research Group Program of the National Research Council of Science and Technology (NST). The findings were published online on June 12, 2026, in Chemical Engineering Journal (Impact Factor: 12.5), a leading international journal in chemical engineering. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ### About Korea Institute of Materials Science(KIMS) KIMS is a non-profit government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT of the Republic of Korea. As the only institute specializing in comprehensive materials technologies in Korea, KIMS has contributed to Korean industry by carrying out a wide range of activities related to materials science including R&D, inspection, testing&evaluation, and technology support.