A wearable breathable pressure sensor from metal-organic framework derived nanocomposites for highly sensitive broad-range healthcare monitoring

Abstract

Flexible, wearable and breathable pressure sensors have received tremendous interest for various potential applications in wearable electronic skins, intelligent robotics, healthcare biomonitoring, and artificial intelligence. However, it remains a critical challenge to simultaneously achieve high sensitivity, broad sensing range, excellent mechanical stability, fast response/recovery, and reliable breathability for long-term wearing for ultrasensitive comfortable full-scale biomonitoring. Herein, we present a wearable, highly sensitive, broad-range and breathable pressure sensor by sandwiching the interconnected nanocomposites of carbonized metal-organic framework (C-MOF) and polyaniline nanofiber (PANIF) on polyurethane (PU) sponge (C-MOF/PANIF@PU) between a breathable fabric and an interdigitated electrode-coated fabric. The assembled sensor exhibits a broad sensing range (up to 60 kPa), high sensitivity (158.26 kPa−1), fast response/recovery time (22 ms/20 ms), reliable breathability, wireless biomonitoring, and an excellent repeatability over 15,000 cycles. It can be assembled as smart artificial electronic skins (E-skins) for mapping tactile stimuli. This work paves the way for the design of wearable, breathable, highly sensitive and broad-range pressure sensor with potential versatile applications in next-generation artificial skins, personal healthcare monitoring, clinical diagnosis, and human-machine interactions.