With the rapid development of smart wearable devices, flexible and biodegradable sensors are in urgent needs. In this study, ‘‘green" electrically conductive Ag nanowire (Ag NW)/cellulose nanofiber (CNF) hybrid...With the rapid development of smart wearable devices, flexible and biodegradable sensors are in urgent needs. In this study, ‘‘green" electrically conductive Ag nanowire (Ag NW)/cellulose nanofiber (CNF) hybrid nanopaper was fabricated to prepare flexible sensors using the facial solution blending and vacuum filtration technique. The amphiphilic property of cellulose is beneficial for the homogeneous dispersion of Ag NW to construct effective electrically conductive networks. Two different types of strain sensors were designed to study their applications in strain sensing. One was the tensile strain sensor where the hybrid nanopaper was sandwiched between two thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) films through hot compression, and special micro-crack structure was constructed through the pre-strain process to enhance the sensitivity. Interestingly, typical pre-strain dependent strain sensing behavior was observed due to different crack densities constructed under different pre-strains. As a result, it exhibited an ultralow detection limit as low as 0.2%, good reproducibility under different strains and excellent stability and durability during 500 cycles (1% strain, 0.5 mm/min). The other was the bending strain sensor where the hybrid nanopaper was adhered onto TPU film, showing stable and recoverable linearly sensing behavior towards two different bending modes (tension and compression). Importantly, the bending sensor displayed great potential for human motion and physiological signal detection. Furthermore, the hybrid nanopaper also exhibited stable and reproducible negative temperature sensing behavior when it was served as a temperature sensor. This study provides a guideline for fabricating flexible and biodegradable sensors.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(51803191)the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2018M642782)the 111 project(D18023)
文摘With the rapid development of smart wearable devices, flexible and biodegradable sensors are in urgent needs. In this study, ‘‘green" electrically conductive Ag nanowire (Ag NW)/cellulose nanofiber (CNF) hybrid nanopaper was fabricated to prepare flexible sensors using the facial solution blending and vacuum filtration technique. The amphiphilic property of cellulose is beneficial for the homogeneous dispersion of Ag NW to construct effective electrically conductive networks. Two different types of strain sensors were designed to study their applications in strain sensing. One was the tensile strain sensor where the hybrid nanopaper was sandwiched between two thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) films through hot compression, and special micro-crack structure was constructed through the pre-strain process to enhance the sensitivity. Interestingly, typical pre-strain dependent strain sensing behavior was observed due to different crack densities constructed under different pre-strains. As a result, it exhibited an ultralow detection limit as low as 0.2%, good reproducibility under different strains and excellent stability and durability during 500 cycles (1% strain, 0.5 mm/min). The other was the bending strain sensor where the hybrid nanopaper was adhered onto TPU film, showing stable and recoverable linearly sensing behavior towards two different bending modes (tension and compression). Importantly, the bending sensor displayed great potential for human motion and physiological signal detection. Furthermore, the hybrid nanopaper also exhibited stable and reproducible negative temperature sensing behavior when it was served as a temperature sensor. This study provides a guideline for fabricating flexible and biodegradable sensors.