Abstract

In recent years, the research of flexible sensors has become a hot topic in the field of wearable technology, attracting the attention of many researchers. However, it is still a difficult challenge to prepare low-cost and high-performance flexible sensors by a simple process. Three-dimensional spacer fabric (SF) are the ideal substrate for flexible pressure sensors due to its good compression resilience and high permeability (5747.7 mm/s, approximately 10 times that of cotton). In this paper, Thermoplastic polyurethane/Polypyrrole/Polydopamine/Space Fabric (TPU/PPy/PDA/SF) composite fabrics were prepared in a simple in-situ polymerization method by sequentially coating polydopamine (PDA) and Polypyrrole (PPy) on the surface of SF, followed by spin-coating of different polymers (thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and Ecoflex) on the PPy/PDA/SF surface. The results showed that the TPU/PPy/PDA/SF pressure sensors prepared by spin-coating TPU at 900 rpm at a concentration of 0.3 mol of pyrrole monomer (py) and a polymerization time of 60 min have optimum sensing performance, a wide working range (0–10 kPa), high sensitivity (97.28 kPa−1), fast response (60 ms), good cycling stability (>500 cycles), and real-time motion monitoring of different parts of the body (e.g., arms and knees). The TPU/PPy/PDA/SF piezoresistive sensor with high sensitivity on a highly permeable spacer fabric base developed in this paper has promising applications in the field of health monitoring.

Highlights

  • In recent years, flexible wearable pressure sensors have attracted widespread research interest due to their great potential for human activity detection, human-computer interaction interfaces, medical health testing, and artificial electronic skin [1,2]

  • The results show that the spacer fabric (SF)-X fabric has greater stress in the entire strain range, which further proves that the SF-X fabric can provide a wider working range for the pressure sensor

  • A thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU)/PPy/PDA/SF composite fabric piezoresistive sensor with high permeability, high sensitivity, and stable sensing performance was successfully prepared using in situ polypyrrole coating and impregnated spin-coated TPU

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Summary

Introduction

Flexible wearable pressure sensors have attracted widespread research interest due to their great potential for human activity detection, human-computer interaction interfaces, medical health testing, and artificial electronic skin [1,2]. Flexible pressure sensors were prepared, and the measurement accuracy of the sensors could reach about 20 kPa−1 for medical health monitoring and wearable electronics. Fernandez et al [2] prepared Fe/Ni high-sensitivity pressure sensors based on the giant magneto-impedance (GMI) effect, using COC as a substrate and magnetron sputtering deposition method, with sensitivity up to 1 Ω/Pa at 0–1 Pa; Melzer et al [20] constructed high-sensitivity giant magneto resistive (GMR) sensor elements on ultrathin 1.4 mm PET foil, which can be uniaxially or biaxially stretched on elastic support with strain up to 270% and withstand more than 1000 cycles without fatigue, and can be used in soft robotics, medical health monitoring, and electronic skin fields. Lu et al [21] developed a highly sensitive interlocking piezoresistive sensor based on an ultrathin ordered nanocone array film using the template method, which exhibited a pressure range of 0–200 Pa range exhibited a high sensitivity of 268.36 kPa−1, an ultra-low detection limit of 0.98 Pa, a fast response time of 48 ms, and a recovery time of 56 ms

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