Highly conductive and stretching-insensitive films for wearable accurate pressure perception

Abstract

Stretchable conductors that enable device to achieve a large deformation and high integration density at a curved surface are considered as a critical element for stretchable electronics. However, developing the conductor with high and stable electrical conductivity under stretching strains remains a challenge. Here, a highly conductive and stretching-insensitive titanium carbide (Ti3C2Tx) MXene/Ag nanowires film is achieved by the design of mechanical structure. Benefited from the structure of regular mesh and automatic relief of concentrated stress, the electrical conductivity of this film is comparable to that of reported noble metal based stretchable conductors and can keep a stable value within the range of 0 ∼ 80% stretching strain. Moreover, a wearable and stretching-insensitive pressure sensor (WSPS) is designed based on this film. The electrical responses of WSPS for the same normal pressure are nearly identical and its sensing properties remain constant for 0 ∼ 60% stretching strain. WSPS has an ultralow stretching-sensitivity of 2.3% at the wide pressure regime of 6.8 ∼ 19.6 KPa, which achieves the accurate pressure perception. WSPS integrated with a microcontroller acts as the wearable monitoring system to assess human health in real time. These results illuminate the paths to design exceptional performance conductors and develop high precision wearable electronics.