Preparation and Performance Study of PVA-Based Flexible Sensors

Flexible sensors have great potential for monitoring human body motion signals. This paper presents a flexible sensor that uses zinc oxide (ZnO) to improve the mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of PVA hydrogel. The composite hydrogel has excellent conductive properties and high strain sensitivity, making it suitable for motion monitoring. The PVA/ZnO conductive hydrogel is tested on various body parts, showing effective feedback on movement changes and good electrical signal output effects for different motion degrees, confirming its feasibility in flexible sensors. The sensor exhibits good mechanical properties, electrical conductivity, and tensile strain sensing performance, making it a promising sensor material. It can accurately monitor wrist bending, finger deformation, bending, and large-scale joint movements due to its wide monitoring range and recoverable strain. The results show that the PVA/ZnO conductive hydrogel can provide effective feedback in flexible sensors, which is suitable for use in motion monitoring.

Nanomaterial-based flexible sensors for metaverse and virtual reality applications

Nanomaterial-based flexible sensors(NMFSs)can be tightly attached to the human skin or integrated with clothing to monitor human physiological information,provide medical data,or explore metaverse spaces.Nanomaterials have been widely incorporated into flexible sensors due to their facile processing,material compatibility,and unique properties.This review highlights the recent advancements in NMFSs involving various nanomaterial frameworks such as nanoparticles,nanowires,and nanofilms.Different triggering interaction interfaces between NMFSs and metaverse/virtual reality(VR)applications,e.g.skin-mechanics-triggered,temperature-triggered,magnetically triggered,and neural-triggered interfaces,are discussed.In the context of interfacing physical and virtual worlds,machine learning(ML)has emerged as a promising tool for processing sensor data for controlling avatars in metaverse/VR worlds,and many ML algorithms have been proposed for virtual interaction technologies.This paper discusses the advantages,disadvantages,and prospects of NMFSs in metaverse/VR applications.

A self-healing and conductive ionic hydrogel based on polysaccharides for flexible sensors

In this study,we proposed a self-healing conductive hydrogel based on polysaccharides and Li+to serve as flexible sensors.At first,the oxidized sodium alginate(OSA)was obtained through the oxidation reaction of sodium alginate(SA).Then OSA,carboxymethyl chitosan(CMC),and agarose(AGO)were dissolved in LiCl solution,respectively.Finally,the hydrogel was obtained through heating,mixing,and cooling processes.Because of the Schiff base structure and hydrogen bonding,the hydrogel demonstrates good mechanical and self-healing properties.The presence of Li+provides good conductivity for the hydrogel.In addition,we demonstrated the application of the hydrogel as the flexible sensors.It can perceive the process of pressing Morse code with the index finger as a pressure sensor and monitor sliding movement of the thumb as the strain sensor to browse the web with the mobile phone.Thus,the selfhealing conductive hydrogel may have potential applications in flexible wearable sensors.

Recent Progress in Cellulose-Based Flexible Sensors

Flexible sensors are attractive due to potential applications in body exercise and ambient gas monitoring systems.Cellulose and its derivatives have combined superiorities such as intrinsic and structural flexibility,ease of chemical functionalization,moisture sensitivity,and mechanical stability,enabling them to be promising candidates as flexible supporting substrates and flexible sensitive materials.Significant progress consequently has been achieved to improve mechanical,electrical,and chemical performance.The latest advance in materials synthesis,structure design,fabrication control,and working mechanism of novel cellulose-based flexible sensors are reviewed and discussed,including strain sensors,humidity sensors,and harmful gas sensors.Various strategies were summarized to enhance sensor performance by surface group modifications,inorganic and organic conducting fillers optimization,multilayer structure design.Newly emerged processing techniques of self-assembly,vacuum filtration,and 3D printing were introduced as well to construct multiscale microstructures.The integration of multiple sensors toward smart and healthy exercise monitoring system is briefly reviewed.The facing challenges and future opportunities of cellulose-based flexible sensors were discussed and proposed at the end.This review provides inspiration and guidelines on how to design and fabricate cellulose-based flexible sensors.

A wave-shaped electrode flexible sensor capable of sensitively responding to wrinkle excitation for a multifunctional human-computer interaction system

Human-machine interactions(HMIs)have advanced rapidly in recent decades in the fields of healthcare,work,and life.However,people with disabilities and other mobility problems do not have corresponding high-tech aids for them to enjoy the convenience of HMIs.In this paper,we propose a sensor with a wave-shaped(corrugated)electrode embedded in a friction layer,which exhibits high sensitivity to skin fold excitation and enormous potential in HMIs.Attributing to the wave-shaped electrode design,it has no built-in cavities,and its small size allows it to flexibly cope with folds at different angles.By specifying the carbon nanotube hybrid silicone film as the electrode layer material and silicone film as the friction layer,good electrical output performance,tensile properties,and biocompatibility can be achieved.Then,the sensor is tested on various joints and skin folds of the human body,the output signals of which can be distinguished between normal physiological behavior and test behavior.Based on this sensor,we designed a medical alarm system,a robotic arm assistive system,and a cell phone application control system for the disabled to help them in the fields of healthcare,work,and life.In conclusion,our research presents a feasible technology to enhance HMIs and makes a valuable contribution to the development of high-tech aids for the disabled.

Flexible temperature sensor with high sensitivity ranging from liquid nitrogen temperature to 1200℃

Flexible temperature sensors have been extensively investigated due to their prospect of wide application in various flexible electronic products.However,most of the current flexible temperature sensors only work well in a narrow temperature range,with their application at high or low temperatures still being a big challenge.This work proposes a flexible thermocouple temperature sensor based on aerogel blanket substrate,the temperature-sensitive layer of which uses the screen-printing technology to prepare indium oxide and indium tin oxide.It has good temperature sensitivity,with the test sensitivity reaching 226.7μV℃^(−1).Most importantly,it can work in a wide temperature range,from extremely low temperatures down to liquid nitrogen temperature to high temperatures up to 1200℃,which is difficult to be achieved by other existing flexible temperature sensors.This temperature sensor has huge application potential in biomedicine,aerospace and other fields.

Advances in flexible sensors for intelligent perception system enhanced by artificial intelligence

Intelligent perception means that with the assistance of artificial intelligence(AI)-motivated brain,flexible sensors achieve the ability of memory,learning,judgment,and reasoning about external information like the human brain.Due to the superiority of machine learning(ML)algorithms in data processing and intelligent recognition,intelligent perception systems possess the ability to match or even surpass human perception systems.However,the built-in flexible sensors in these systems need to work on dynamic and irregular surfaces,inevitably affecting the precision and fidelity of the acquired data.In recent years,the strategy of introducing the developed functional materials and innovative structures into flexible sensors has made some progress toward the above challenges,and with the blessing of ML algorithms,accurate perception and reasoning in various scenarios have been achieved.Here,the most representative functional materials and innovative structures for constructing flexible sensors are comprehensively reviewed,the research progress of intelligent perception systems based on flexible sensors and ML algorithms is further summarized,and the intersection of the two is expected to unlock new opportunities for next-stage AI development.

Direct fabrication of flexible tensile sensors enabled by polariton energy transfer based on graphene nanosheet films

A fundamental problem in the direct manufacturing of flexible devices is the low melting temperature of flexible substrates,which hinders the development of flexible electronics.Proposed here is an electron-cyclotron-resonance sputtering system that can batch-fabricate devices directly on flexible substrates under a low temperature by virtue of the polariton energy transfer between the plasma and the material.Flexible graphene nanosheet-embedded carbon(F-GNEC)films are manufactured directly on polyimide,polyethylene terephthalate,and polydimethylsiloxane,and how the substrate bias(electron energy),microwave power(plasma flux and energy),and magnetic field(electron flux)affect the nanostructure of the F-GNEC films is investigated,indicating that electron energy and flux contribute to the formation of standing graphene nanosheets in the film.The films have good uniformity of distribution in a large size(17 mm×17 mm),and tensile and angle sensors with a high gauge factor(0.92)and fast response(50 ms)for a machine hand are obtained by virtue of the unique nanostructure of the F-GNEC film.This work sheds light on the quantum manufacturing of carbon sensors and its applications for intelligent machine hands and virtual-reality technology.

Coulometric Response of H-Selective Solid-Contact Ion-Selective Electrodes and Its Application in Flexible Sensors+

The analytical performance of H+-selective solid-contact ion-selective electrodes(SCISEs)based on solid contact polyaniline doped with chloride(PANI(Cl))and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)doped with poly(styrene sulfonate)(PEDOT(PSS))was characterized by a developed coulometric signal transduction method.PEDOT(PSS)solid contact is covered by PVC based H+-selective membrane.The obtained coulometric signal demonstrates that the cumulated charge can be amplified by increasing the capacitance of solid contact.SCISEs covered with spin-coated membrane behave faster amperometric response than electrodes with drop-cast mem-brane.In contrast to earlier works,the amperometric response and impedance spectrum demonstrates H+transfer through SCISEs is independent from the thickness of membrane.The exceptional behavior of PANI(Cl)H+-SCISEs shows that the capacitance estimated from impedance spectrum at low frequency 10 mHz and coulometric signal of PANI(Cl)based SCISEs is influenced by the applied po-tentials,whereas PEDOT(PSS)solid contact is independent from the chosen applied potentials.Furthermore,preliminary investiga-tions of coulometric signal transduction on flexible pH sensor implies its potential applications in wearable sensors for sweat ion concentration detection.

Liquid metal-assisted hydrothermal preparation of cobalt disulfide on the polymer tape surface for flexible sensor

Nowadays,two-dimensional transition metal chalcogenides have become attractive materials for flexible wearable devices because of their intriguing chemistry characteristics and sensitivity to external stimuli.However,the growth of two-dimensional materials on polymer surfaces is generally carried out by the time-consuming and costly chemical vapor deposition method.Reducing the manufacturing and integration costs while improving the device performance remains to be challenging.Herein,we report a simple liquid metal-assisted hydrothermal method for the growth of two-dimensional nanomaterials on the polymer surface.Specifically,a layer of liquid metal was coated on commercial tape,while layered cobalt sulfide was grown on its surface by a simple one-step hydrothermal method.Different kinds of flexible sensors can be prepared,such as bending sensor,pressure sensor,humidity sensor,which can be used to detect motion,writing,breathing,other signals.This strategy can also be assigned to sensing signals on different objects,which may further expand and enrich the application of twodimensional materials in sensing.

Elastomeric polymers for conductive layers of flexible sensors: Materials, fabrication, performance, and applications

In the wave of the Internet era created by computer and communication technology,flexible sensors play an important role in accurately collecting information owing to their excellent flexibility,ductility,freeform bending or folding,and versatile structural shapes.By endowing elastomeric polymers with conductivity,researchers have recently devoted extensive efforts toward developing high-performance flexible sensors based on elastomeric conductive layers and exploring their potential applications in diverse fields ranging from project manufacturing to daily life.This review reports the recent advancements in elastomeric polymers used to make conductive layers,as well as the relationships between elastomeric polymers and the performance and application of flexible sensors are comprehensively summarized.First,the principles and methods for using elastomeric polymers to construct conductive layers are provided.Then,the fundamental design,unique properties,and underlying mechanisms in different flexible sensors(pressure/strain,temperature,humidity)and their related applications are revealed.Finally,this review concludes with a perspective on the challenges and future directions of high-performance flexible sensors.

MXene-Based Elastomer Mimetic StretchableSensors: Design, Properties, and Applications

Flexible sensors based on MXene-polymer composites are highly prospective for next-generation wearable electronics used in human-machine interfaces.One of the motivating factors behind the progress of flexible sensors is the steady arrival of new conductive materials.MXenes,a new family of 2D nanomaterials,have been draw-ing attention since the last decade due to their high electronic conduc-tivity,processability,mechanical robustness and chemical tunability.In this review,we encompass the fabrication of MXene-based polymeric nanocomposites,their structure-property relationship,and applications in the flexible sensor domain.Moreover,our discussion is not only lim-ited to sensor design,their mechanism,and various modes of sensing platform,but also their future perspective and market throughout the world.With our article,we intend to fortify the bond between flexible matrices and MXenes thus promoting the swift advancement of flexible MXene-sensors for wearable technologies.

MXene-based flexible pressure sensor with piezoresistive properties significantly enhanced by atomic layer infiltration

The flexible pressure sensor has been credited for leading performance including higher sensitivity,faster response/recovery,wider detection range and higher mechanical durability,thus driving the development of novel sensing materials enabled by new processing technologies.Using atomic layer infiltration,Pt nanocrystals with dimensions on the order of a few nanometers can be infiltrated into the compressible lamellar structure of Ti3C2Tx MXene,allowing a modulation of its interlayer spacing,electrical conductivity and piezoresistive property.The flexible piezoresistive sensor is further developed from the Pt-infiltrated MXene on a paper substrate.It is demonstrated that Pt infiltration leads to a significant enhancement of the pressure-sensing performance of the sensor,including increase of sensitivity from 0.08 kPa^(-1)to 0.5 kPa^(-1),extension of detection limit from 5 kPa to 9 kPa,decrease of response time from 200 ms to 20 ms,and reduction of recovery time from 230 ms to 50 ms.The mechanical durability of the flexible sensor is also improved,with the piezoresistive performance stable over 1000 cycles of flexure fatigue.The atomic layer infiltration process offers new possibilities for the structure modification of MXene for advanced sensor applications.

Blade-Coated Porous 3D Carbon Composite Electrodes Coupled with Multiscale Interfaces for Highly Sensitive All-Paper Pressure Sensors

Flexible and wearable pressure sensors hold immense promise for health monitoring,covering disease detection and postoperative rehabilitation.Developing pressure sensors with high sensitivity,wide detection range,and cost-effectiveness is paramount.By leveraging paper for its sustainability,biocompatibility,and inherent porous structure,herein,a solution-processed all-paper resistive pressure sensor is designed with outstanding performance.A ternary composite paste,comprising a compressible 3D carbon skeleton,conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate),and cohesive carbon nanotubes,is blade-coated on paper and naturally dried to form the porous composite electrode with hierachical micro-and nano-structured surface.Combined with screen-printed Cu electrodes in submillimeter finger widths on rough paper,this creates a multiscale hierarchical contact interface between electrodes,significantly enhancing sensitivity(1014 kPa-1)and expanding the detection range(up to 300 kPa)of as-resulted all-paper pressure sensor with low detection limit and power consumption.Its versatility ranges from subtle wrist pulses,robust finger taps,to large-area spatial force detection,highlighting its intricate submillimetermicrometer-nanometer hierarchical interface and nanometer porosity in the composite electrode.Ultimately,this all-paper resistive pressure sensor,with its superior sensing capabilities,large-scale fabrication potential,and cost-effectiveness,paves the way for next-generation wearable electronics,ushering in an era of advanced,sustainable technological solutions.

Flexible Waterproof Piezoresistive Pressure Sensors with Wide Linear Working Range Based on Conductive Fabrics

Developing flexible sensors with high working performance holds intense interest for diverse applications in leveraging the Internet-of-things(IoT)infrastructures.For flexible piezoresistive sensors,traditionally most efforts are focused on tailoring the sensing materials to enhance the contact resistance variation for improving the sensitivity and working range,and it,however,remains challenging to simultaneously achieve flexible sensor with a linear working range over a high-pressure region(>100 kPa)and keep a reliable sensitivity.Herein,we devised a laserengraved silver-coated fabric as"soft"sensor electrode material to markedly advance the flexible sensor's linear working range to a level of 800 kPa with a high sensitivity of 6.4 kPa^-1 yet a fast response time of only 4 ms as well as long-time durability,which was rarely reported before.The integrated sensor successfully routed the wireless signal of pulse rate to the portable smartphone,further demonstrating its potential as a reliable electronic.Along with the rationally building the electrode instead of merely focusing on sensing materials capable of significantly improving the sensor's performance,we expect that this design concept and sensor system could potentially pave the way for developing more advanced wearable electronics in the future.

An intraoperative lumbar neurological force monitoring system with high-density flexible pressure sensor array

In the surgery of lumbar disc herniation(LDH),the nerve root retractor is used to pull the nerve root to prevent damage.The traditional medical nerve root retractor cannot quantify the force on the nerve root.In order to improve the nerve root retractor,this paper proposes an intraoperative lumbar neurological force monitoring system.The core module of this system is the improved nerve root retractor equipped with the high density flexible pressure sensor array.The high density microneedle array and multiple pressure detection units are used in the pressure sensor to realise sensitive pressure monitoring in a narrow surgical operation area.The sensing area is 4 mm×17 mm,including 6 detection units.The sensitivity of sensor is 67.30%/N in the range of 0-5 N.This system is used for in vitro animal experiments,which can continuously detect pressure.

A waterproof and breathable Cotton/rGO/CNT composite for constructing a layer-by-layer structured multifunctional flexible sensor

Developing a cotton fabric sensing layer with good waterproofness and breathability via a low-cost and eco-friendly method is increasingly important for the construction of comfortable and wearable electronic devices.Herein,a waterproof and breathable cotton fabric composite decorated by reduced graphene oxide(rGO)and carbon nanotube(CNT),Cotton/rGO/CNT,is reported by a facile solution infiltration method,and we adopt such Cotton/rGO/CNT composite to develop a layer-by-layer structured multifunctional flexible sensor,enabling the high-sensitivity detection of pressure and temperature stimulus.Particularly,the multifunctional flexible sensor exhibits a high response toward tiny pressure,demonstrating salient superiority in the continuous and reliable monitoring of human physiological information.Concerning temperature sensing,a good linear response for the temperatures ranging from 28 to 40℃ is achieved by the multifunctional flexible sensor and gives rise to be successfully applied to the non-contact real-time monitoring of human respiration signal.Finally,an array consisting of multifunctional flexible sensors further demonstrates its feasibility in perceiving and mapping the pressure and temperature information of contact objects.This work provides a feasible strategy for designing cotton-based sensing layers that can effectively resist liquid water penetration and allow water vapor transmission,and offers reasonable insight for constructing comfort and multifunctional wearable electronics.

Flexible Sensor Might One Day Monitor a Heart for Decades

During surgery,a heartbeat doesn’t just tell whether a person is dead or alive-it can warn of big problems that come up quite suddenly.Keeping watch for subtle irregularities in the heart’s electric activity can help save a patient’s life.But today’s technology can’t give as much detail as doctors

Morphological Engineering of Sensing Materials for Flexible Pressure Sensors and Artificial Intelligence Applications

As an indispensable branch of wearable electronics,flexible pressure sensors are gaining tremendous attention due to their extensive applications in health monitoring,human-machine interaction,artificial intelligence,the internet of things,and other fields.In recent years,highly flexible and wearable pressure sensors have been developed using various materials/structures and transduction mechanisms.Morphological engineering of sensing materials at the nanometer and micrometer scales is crucial to obtaining superior sensor performance.This review focuses on the rapid development of morphological engineering technologies for flexible pressure sensors.We discuss different architectures and morphological designs of sensing materials to achieve high performance,including high sensitivity,broad working range,stable sensing,low hysteresis,high transparency,and directional or selective sensing.Additionally,the general fabrication techniques are summarized,including self-assembly,patterning,and auxiliary synthesis methods.Furthermore,we present the emerging applications of high-performing microengineered pressure sensors in healthcare,smart homes,digital sports,security monitoring,and machine learning-enabled computational sensing platform.Finally,the potential challenges and prospects for the future developments of pressure sensors are discussed comprehensively.

Multifunctional Flexible Humidity Sensor Systems Towards Noncontact Wearable Electronics

In the past decade,the global industry and research attentions on intelligent skin-like electronics have boosted their applications in diverse fields including human healthcare,Internet of Things,human–machine interfaces,artificial intelligence and soft robotics.Among them,flexible humidity sensors play a vital role in noncontact measurements relying on the unique property of rapid response to humidity change.This work presents an overview of recent advances in flexible humidity sensors using various active functional materials for contactless monitoring.Four categories of humidity sensors are highlighted based on resistive,capacitive,impedance-type and voltage-type working mechanisms.Furthermore,typical strategies including chemical doping,structural design and Joule heating are introduced to enhance the performance of humidity sensors.Drawing on the noncontact perception capability,human/plant healthcare management,human-machine interactions as well as integrated humidity sensor-based feedback systems are presented.The burgeoning innovations in this research field will benefit human society,especially during the COVID-19 epidemic,where cross-infection should be averted and contactless sensation is highly desired.