A Selective‑Response Hypersensitive Bio‑Inspired Strain Sensor Enabled by Hysteresis Effect and Parallel Through‑Slits Structures

Flexible strain sensors are promising in sensing minuscule mechanical signals,and thereby widely used in various advanced fields.However,the effective integration of hypersensitivity and highly selective response into one flexible strain sensor remains a huge challenge.Herein,inspired by the hysteresis strategy of the scorpion slit receptor,a bio-inspired flexible strain sensor(BFSS)with parallel through-slit arrays is designed and fabricated.Specifically,BFSS consists of conductive monolayer graphene and viscoelastic styrene–isoprene–styrene block copolymer.Under the synergistic effect of the bio-inspired slit structures and flexible viscoelastic materials,BFSS can achieve both hypersensitivity and highly selective frequency response.Remarkably,the BFSS exhibits a high gage factor of 657.36,and a precise identification of vibration frequencies at a resolution of 0.2 Hz through undergoing different morphological changes to high-frequency vibration and low-frequency vibration.Moreover,the BFSS possesses a wide frequency detection range(103 Hz)and stable durability(1000 cycles).It can sense and recognize vibration signals with different characteristics,including the frequency,amplitude,and waveform.This work,which turns the hysteresis effect into a"treasure,"can provide new design ideas for sensors for potential applications including human–computer interaction and health monitoring of mechanical equipment.

Wearable and stretchable conductive polymer composites for strain sensors:How to design a superior one?

Wearable and stretchable strain sensors have potential values in the fields of human motion and health monitoring,flexible electronics,and soft robotic skin.The wearable and stretchable strain sensors can be directly attached to human skin,providing visualized detection for human motions and personal healthcare.Conductive polymer composites(CPC)composed of conductive fillers and flexible polymers have the advantages of high stretchability,good flexibility,superior durability,which can be used to prepare flexible strain sensors with large working strain and outstanding sensitivity.This review has put forward a comprehensive summary on the fabrication methods,advanced mechanisms and strain sensing abilities of CPC strain sensors reported in recent years,especially the sensors with superior performance.Finally,the structural design,bionic function,integration technology and further application of CPC strain sensors are prospected.

DISTRIBUTED MICROBEND FIBER-OPTIC STRAIN SENSOR

The distributed strain sensor has significant application in real time measurement of strain status for large and important engineering structures such as aircraft, bridge and dam. In this paper, a quasi distributed optical fiber strain sensor system is set up using optical time domain reflect technique. The local strain sensors based on a novel microbend configuration are designed and applied to measure local strains along the optical fiber. As the result of the experimental research, the microbend sensors show high sensitivity, good linearity and repeatability in certain operation range.

Highly Sensitive Ultrathin Flexible Thermoplastic Polyurethane/Carbon Black Fibrous Film Strain Sensor with Adjustable Scaffold Networks

In recently years,high-performance wearable strain sensors have attracted great attention in academic and industrial.Herein,a conductive polymer composite of electrospun thermoplastic polyurethane(TPU)fibrous film matrix-embedded carbon black(CB)particles with adjustable scaffold network was fabricated for high-sensitive strain sensor.This work indicated the influence of stereoscopic scaffold network structure built under various rotating speeds of collection device in electrospinning process on the electrical response of TPU/CB strain sensor.This structure makes the sensor exhibit combined characters of high sensitivity under stretching strain(gauge factor of 8962.7 at 155%strain),fast response time(60 ms),outstanding stability and durability(>10,000 cycles)and a widely workable stretching range(0–160%).This high-performance,wearable,flexible strain sensor has a broad vision of application such as intelligent terminals,electrical skins,voice measurement and human motion monitoring.Moreover,a theoretical approach was used to analyze mechanical property and a model based on tunneling theory was modified to describe the relative change of resistance upon the applied strain.Meanwhile,two equations based from this model were first proposed and offered an effective but simple approach to analyze the change of number of conductive paths and distance of adjacent conductive particles.

Application of Tube-Packaged FBG Strain Sensor in Vibration Experi ment of Submarine Pipeline Model

Optical fiber sensors have received increasing attention in the fields of aeronautic and civil engineering for their superior ability to stand explosion, immunity to electromagnetic interference and high accuracy, especially fit for measureroent applications in harsh environment. In this study, a novel FBG （fiber Bragg grating） strain sensor, which is packaged in a 1.2 mm stainless steel tube with epoxy resin, is developed. Experiments are conducted on the universal material testing machine to calibrate its strain transferring characteristics. The sensor has the advantages of small size, high precision and flexible use, and exhibits promising potentials. Five tube-packaged strain FBG sensors have been applied to the vibration experiment of a submarine pipeline model. The strain measttred with the FBG sensor agrees well with that measttred with the electric resistance strain sensor.

Functionalized Fiber-Based Strain Sensors:Pathway to Next-Generation Wearable Electronics

Wearable strain sensors are arousing increasing research interests in recent years on account of their potentials in motion detection,personal and public healthcare,future entertainment,man-machine interaction,artificial intelligence,and so forth.Much research has focused on fiber-based sensors due to the appealing performance of fibers,including processing flexibility,wearing comfortability,outstanding lifetime and serviceability,low-cost and large-scale capacity.Herein,we review the latest advances in functionalization and device fabrication of fiber materials toward applications in fiber-based wearable strain sensors.We describe the approaches for preparing conductive fibers such as spinning,surface modification,and structural transformation.We also introduce the fabrication and sensing mechanisms of state-of-the-art sensors and analyze their merits and demerits.The applications toward motion detection,healthcare,man-machine interaction,future entertainment,and multifunctional sensing are summarized with typical examples.We finally critically analyze tough challenges and future remarks of fiber-based strain sensors,aiming to implement them in real applications.

Anisotropic,Wrinkled,and Crack-Bridging Structure for Ultrasensitive,Highly Selective Multidirectional Strain Sensors

Flexible multidirectional strain sensors are crucial to accurately determining the complex strain states involved in emerging sensing applications.Although considerable efforts have been made to construct anisotropic structures for improved selective sensing capabilities,existing anisotropic sensors suffer from a trade-off between high sensitivity and high stretchability with acceptable linearity.Here,an ultrasensitive,highly selective multidirectional sensor is developed by rational design of functionally different anisotropic layers.The bilayer sensor consists of an aligned carbon nanotube(CNT)array assembled on top of a periodically wrinkled and cracked CNT-graphene oxide film.The transversely aligned CNT layer bridge the underlying longitudinal microcracks to effectively discourage their propagation even when highly stretched,leading to superior sensitivity with a gauge factor of 287.6 across a broad linear working range of up to 100%strain.The wrinkles generated through a pre-straining/releasing routine in the direction transverse to CNT alignment is responsible for exceptional selectivity of 6.3,to the benefit of accurate detection of loading directions by the multidirectional sensor.This work proposes a unique approach to leveraging the inherent merits of two cross-influential anisotropic structures to resolve the trade-off among sensitivity,selectivity,and stretchability,demonstrating promising applications in full-range,multi-axis human motion detection for wearable electronics and smart robotics.

Highly sensitive and fast response strain sensor based on evanescently coupled micro/nanofibers

Flexible strain sensors play an important role in electronic skins,wearable medical devices,and advanced robots.Herein,a highly sensitive and fast response optical strain sensor with two evanescently coupled optical micro/nanofibers(MNFs)embedded in a polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)film is proposed.The strain sensor exhibits a gauge factor as high as 64.5 for strain≤0.5%and a strain resolution of 0.0012%which corresponds to elongation of 120 nm on a 1 cm long device.As a proof-of-concept,highly sensitive fingertip pulse measurement is realized.The properties of fast temporal frequency response up to 30 kHz and a pressure sensitivity of 102 kPa^(−1) enable the sensor for sound detection.Such versatile sensor could be of great use in physiological signal monitoring,voice recognition and micro-displacement detection.

Highly sensitive and stretchable piezoelectric strain sensor enabled wearable devices for real-time monitoring of respiratory and heartbeat simultaneously

The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a pandemic.The demand for devices or systems to diagnose and track COVID-19 infections noninvasively not only in hospitals but also in home settings has led to increased interest in consumer-grade wearables.A common symptom of COVID-19 is dyspnea,which may manifest as an increase in respiratory and heart rates.In this paper,a novel piezoelectric strain sensor is presented for real-time monitoring of respiratory and heartbeat signals.A highly sensitive and stretchable piezoelectric strain sensor is fabricated using a piezoelectric film with a serpentine layout.The thickness of the patterned PVDF flexible piezoelectric strain sensor is only 168μm,and the voltage sensitivity reaches 0.97 mV/με.The effective modulus is 13.5 MPa,which allows the device to fit to the skin and detect the small strain exhibited by the human body.Chest vibrations are captured by the piezoelectric sensor,which produces an electrical output voltage signal conformally mapped with respiratory–cardiac activities.The separate heart activity and respiratory signals are extracted from the mixed respiratory–cardiac signal by an empirical mode decomposition data processing algorithm.By detecting vital signals such as respiratory and heart rates,the proposed device can aid early diagnosis and monitoring of respiratory diseases such as COVID-19.

Laser-induced porous graphene on Polyimide/PDMS composites andits kirigami-inspired strain sensor

The laser-induced porous graphene(LIG)prepared in a straightforward fabrication method is presented,and its applications in stretchable strain sensors to detect the applied strain are also explored.The LIGformed on the polyimide/polydimethylsiloxane(PI/PDMS)composite exhibits a naturally high stretchabil-ity(over 30%),bypassing the transfer printing process compared to the one prepared by laser scribing onPI films.The PI/PDMS composite with LIG shows tunable mechanical and electronic performances withdifferent PI particle concentrations in PDMS.The good cyclic stability and almost linear response of theprepared LIG’s resistance with respect to tensile strain provide its access to wearable electronics.To im-prove the PDMS/PI composite stretchability,we designed and optimized a kirigami-inspired strain sensorwith LIG on the top surface,dramatically increasing the maximum strain value that in linear response toapplied strain from 3%to 79%.

Review of graphene-based strain sensors

In this paper, we review various types of graphene-based strain sensors. Graphene is a monolayer of carbon atoms, which exhibits prominent electrical and mechanical properties and can be a good candidate in compact strain sensor ap- plications. However, a perfect graphene is robust and has a low piezoresistive sensitivity. So scientists have been driven to increase the sensitivity using different kinds of methods since the first graphene-based strain sensor was reported. We give a comprehensive review of graphene-based strain sensors with different structures and mechanisms. It is obvious that graphene offers some advantages and has potential for the strain sensor application in the near future.

Textile-Based Strain Sensor for Human Motion Detection

Human motion analysis consists of real-time monitoring and recording of human body’s kinematics. It is very essential to track ambulatory and dailylife human motion, which is crucial for many applications and disciplines.Electronic textiles(e-textiles) afford a valid alternative to traditional solidstate sensors due to their merits of low cost, lightweight, flexibility, and feasibility to fit various human bodies. In this mini-review, textile-based sensor platforms and human motion analysis are well discussed in Section 1.Second, theoretical principles of textile-based strain sensors are introduced including resistive, capacitive, and piezoelectrical sensors. Section 3 focuses on various types of textile materials that are functionalized as sensing systems by intrinsic or extrinsic modifications. Section 4 summaries various types of e-textile-based strain sensors for human motion analysis. The final two sections mainly present perspectives and challenges, and conclusions,respectively.

High sensitive fiber strain sensor using suspended-core fibers

A novel fiber strain sensor is proposed, based on the two-mode interference of a suspended-core fiber. A fullvectorial finite difference mode solver is employed as the numerical tool for characterizing the proposed strain sensor. The numerical results show that the proposed strain sensor has an estimated sensitivity of 0.05 rad/（m-με）, higher than that of the strain sensors using conventional multimode fibers, while the temperature sensitivity of the proposed sensor is relatively low.

Fiber Grating-Based Strain Sensor Array for Health Monitoring of Pipelines

Pipelines are one of the most important modern energy transportation methods,used especially for the transportation of certain dangerous energy media materials such as crude oil,natural gas,and chemical raw materials.New requirements have been put forward for the health monitoring and early security warning of pipelines because of the large-scale and complicated development trend of the pipe network system.To achieve an accurate assessment of the health conditions of pipeline infrastructure,obtaining as many precise operating parameters as possible,particularly at some critical parts of the pipeline,is necessary.Therefore,a novel type of fiber grating strain sensor array is proposed herein to monitor the pipeline hoop strain.The sensor utilizes fiber grating characteristics such as light weight,corrosion resistance,remote transmission,and strong environmental adaptability.The fiber containing the grating measurement points is implanted into the composite material to complete the sensitization encapsulation and protection of the bare fiber grating.The design of the sensor array fulfills the requirements for monitoring pipeline mass data,making it easy to form a pipeline health monitoring sensor network.The sensor sensitivity is researched by using a combination of theoretical and experimental analysis.A sensitivity test,as well as linearity and stability tests,are performed on the sensor.The experimental results show that the average sensitivity of the sensor is 14.86 pm/με,and the error from the theoretical calculation analysis value is 8.75%.Due to its high reliability,good linear response and long-term stability,and the ability to reflect the exact strain change of the outer wall of the pipeline,the designed sensor can support longterm online pipeline monitoring.The fiber grating sensor array network has successfully realized the monitoring of the pipeline’s internal operation by using external strain changes.In addition to the performance benefits,there are other merits associated with the applicability of the sensor namely simple structure,compact size,manufacturing ease,and exterior installation ease.

Response Characteristics of Strain Sensors Based on Closely Spaced Nanocluster Films with Controlled Coverage

Flexible strain sensor devices were fabricated by depositing Pd nanoclusters on PET membranes patterned with interdigital electrodes. The sensors responded to the deformation of the PET membranes with the conductance changes of the nanocluster films and were characterized by both high gauge factor and wide detection range. The response characteristics of the strain sensors were found to depend strongly on the nanocluster coverage, which was attributed to the percolative nature of the electron transport in the closely spaced nanocluster arrays. By controlling the nanocluster deposition process, a strain sensor composed of nanocluster arrays with a coverage close to the effective percolation threshold was fabricated. The sensor device showed a linear response with a stable gauge factor of 55 for the applied strains from the lower detection limit up to 0.3%. At higher applied strains, a gauge factor as high as 200 was shown. The nanocluster films also demonstrated the ability to response to large deformations up to 8% applied strain, with an extremely high gauge factor of 3500.

Effects of temperature on MWCNTs/PDMS composites based flexible strain sensors

Conductive polymer composites(CPCs)are widely used in the flexible strain sensors due to their simple fabrication process and controllable sensing properties.However,temperature has a significance impact on the strain sensing performance of CPCs.In this paper,the strain sensing characteristics of MWCNTs/PDMS composites under temperature loading were systematically studied.It was found that the sensitivity decreased with the increase of temperature and the phenomenon of shoulder peak also decreased.Based on the theory of polymer mechanics,it was found that temperature could affect the conductive network by changing the motion degree of PDMS molecular chain,resulting in the change of sensing characteristics.Finally,a mathematical model of the resistance against loading condition(strain and temperature),associated with the force−electrical equivalent relationship of composites,was established to discuss the experimental results as well as the sensing mechanism.The results presented in this paper was believed helpful for the further application of strain sensors in different temperature conditions.

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.

Design and validation of wireless strain test system for bridge based on the resistance strain sensor

In order to achieve an access to strain sensor data with wireless transmission in bridge engineering structure testing, a wireless strain test system is presented based on the resistance strain sensor of networks. The wireless bridge strain test system composed of master station and substation adopts the wireless method to realize the high accuracy data acquisition between the master station and the substation under a reliable communication protocol. The system has been tested in contrast with the present strain apparatus. Results show that the wireless system is high-reliable, and has many characteristics such as high efficiency, good precision, high stability with low cost, and good flexibility, without using the present communication network.

Axial Micro-Strain Sensor Based on FM-FBG via Dual-Mode ML-FMF in Sensor Networks

An in-fiber axial micro-strain sensor based on a Few Mode Fiber Bragg Grating (FM-FBG) is proposed and experimentally characterized. This FM-FBG is in inscribed in a multi-layer few-mode fiber (ML-FMF), and could acquire the change of the axial strain along fibers, which depends on the transmission dips. On account of the distinct dual-mode property, a good stability of this sensor is realized. The two transmission dips could have the different sensing behaviors. Both the propagation characteristics and operation principle of such a sensor are demonstrated in detail. High sensitivity of the FM-FBG, ~4 pm/με and ~4.5 pm/με within the range of 0 με - 1456 με, is experimentally achieved. FM-FBGs could be easily scattered along one fiber. So this sensor may have a great potential of being used in sensor networks.

Stretchable Strain Sensors Fabricated by Screen Printing of Silver Paste on the Surface Modified Transparent Elastomeric Polyurethane Films

Strain sensors for human-motion detection must offer high stretchability, high sensitivity, fast response, and high recovery speed. In this study, we choose silver paste as a sensing material and use a screen printing method to fabricate the strain sensor based upon an electrical-resistance mechanism. After curing elastomeric polyurethane film with a thickness of 150 μm on PET film, the polyester resin mixed with blocked isocyanate curing agent was coated as a masking layer to reduce the film’s stickiness. The effect of the polyester masking layer upon the silver paste screen printing process was examined using a rolling-ball-tack test, TGA analysis of polyester resins, and cured silver-electrode films. The cost-effective strain sensor fabricated by using silver paste and screen printing processes on the stretchable-polyurethane-substrate film showed high sensitivity and fast response in a strain range of up to 100%.