Facile and Economical Fabrication of Superhydrophobic Flexible Resistive Strain Sensors for Human Motion Detection

Superhydrophobic flexible strain sensors have great application value in the fields of personal health monitoring,human motion detection,and soft robotics due to their good flexibility and high sensitivity.However,complicated preparation processes and costly processing procedures have limited their development.To overcome these limitations,in this work we develop a facile and low-cost method for fabricating superhydrophobic flexible strain sensor via spraying carbon black(CB)nanoparticles dispersed in a thermoplastic elastomer(SEBS)solution on a polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)flexible substrate.The prepared strain sensor had a large water contact angle of 153±2.83°and a small rolling angle of 8.5±1.04°,and exhibited excellent self-cleaning property.Due to the excellent superhydrophobicity,aqueous acid,salt,and alkali could quickly roll off the flexible strain sensor.In addition,the sensor showed excellent sensitivity(gauge factor(GF)of 5.4–7.35),wide sensing ranges(stretching:over 70%),good linearity(three linear regions),low hysteresis(hysteresis error of 4.8%),and a stable response over 100 stretching-releasing cycles.Moreover,the sensor was also capable of effectively detecting human motion signals like finger bending and wrist bending,showing promising application prospects in wearable electronic devices,personalized health monitoring,etc.

Flexible Strain Sensor Based on 3D Electrospun Carbonized Sponge

Flexible strain sensor has attracted much attention because of its potential application in human motion detection.In this work,the prepared strain sensor was obtained by encapsulating electrospun carbonized sponge(CS)with room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber(RTVS).In this paper,the formation mechanism of conductive sponge was studied.Based on the combination of carbonized sponge and RTVS,the strain sensing mechanism and piezoresistive properties are discussed.After research and testing,the CS/RTVS flexible strain sensor has excellent fast response speed and stability,and the maximum strain coefficient of the sensor is 136.27.In this study,the self-developed CS/RTVS sensor was used to monitor the movements of the wrist joint,arm elbow joint and fingers in real time.Research experiments show that CS/RTVS flexible strain sensor has good application prospects in the field of human motion monitoring.

Self-assembled gel-assisted preparation of high-performance hydrophobic PDMS@MWCNTs/PEDOT:PSS composite aerogels for wearable piezoresistive sensors

The conductive polymer poly(3,4-thylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate)(PEDOT:PSS)exhibits po-tential in the development of flexible devices due to its unique conjugated structure and water-solubility characteristics.To address the incompressibility of the original PEDOT:PSS aerogel without compromis-ing its high conductivity,a stable interpenetrating polymer network(IPN)was self-assembled by guiding the molecular motion within PEDOT:PSS and introducing multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs).By combining critical surface removal,directional freeze-drying,and polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)reinforce-ment processes,a hydrophobic PDMS@MWCNTs/PP aerogel with a highly oriented porous structure and high strength was prepared.Under the synergistic effect of MWCNTs/PEDOT:PSS electroactive scaffold,the composite aerogel exhibited a high sensitivity of up to 16.603 kPa^(-1) at 0-2 kPa,a fast response time of 74 ms,and excellent repeatability.Moreover,the sensor possessed hydrophobicity with a good water contact angle of 137°The sensor could serve as a wearable electronic monitoring device to achieve ac-curate and sensitive detection of human motion including large-scale human activities and tiny muscle movements.Therefore,our findings provide a new direction to fabricate high-performance piezoresistive sensors based on three-dimensional(3D)conductive polymer active scaffolds,demonstrating their great potential for flexible electronics,human-computer interaction,and a wide range of applications under special working conditions.

Fast-response,high-sensitivity multi-modal tactile sensors based on PPy/Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) films for multifunctional applications

In recent years,multi-modal flexible tactile sensors have become an important direction in the development of electronic skin because of their excellent sensitivity,flexibility and wearable properties.In this work,a humidity-pressure multi-modal flexible sensor based on polypyrrole(PPy)/Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) sensitive film packaged with porous polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)is investigated by combining the sensitive structure generation mechanism of in situ polymerization to achieve the simultaneous detection of humidity and pressure,which has a sensitivity of 89,113.4Ω/%RH in a large humidity range of 0%-97%RH,and response/recovery time of 2.5/1.9 s.The tactile pressure sensing has a high sensitivity,a fast response of 67/52 ms,and a wide detection limit.The device also has excellent performance in terms of stability and repeatability,making it promising for respiratory pattern and motion detection.This work provides a new solution to address the construction of multi-modal tactile sensors with potential applications in the fields of medical health,epidemic prevention.

Regenerating leather waste for flexible pressure sensing applications

Pressure sensor can be applied in a wide range of fields,such as voice recognition,human motions detection and artificial electronic skin,the sensing of which is greatly influenced by the flexibility and stretchability of substrate materials.Here,based on the piezoresistive effect,new kinds of flexible pressure sensors have been realized from a pair of flexible and biocompatible collagen films:one is coated by silver nanowires(Ag NWs)and the other by interdigital electrode,respectively.The collagen films are regenerated from leather waste and could bring economic benefits to society.The prepared pressure sensors are applied for voice recognition and human motion detection.