Highly sensitive strain sensors based on dispensing technology for human–machine interaction

Abstract

Flexible strain sensors have stable and sensitive sensing performance under deformation conditions such as pressing, bending, and stretching. However, the preparation process of high-performance strain sensors is still very complex, which also limits the application and production of sensors. At the same time, most sensors are unstable and inefficient, so they cannot meet people’s expectations for high sensitivity and stability. In order to solve the above problems, this paper proposes a resistive strain sensor based on dispensing technology, with carbon black and polyurethane mixture as printing ink. Then, a sensor-sensitive layer with a right-angle serpentine structure is printed directly by air pressure extrusion. The sensor can detect changes at 0.1% strain and withstand 2400 tensile cycles while maintaining a sensitivity of 28.07 in the range of 0%–40%. In addition, the sensor can accurately and stably reflect the changes in different joints of the human body. At the same time, the data glove based on the strain sensor shows great application potential in the fields of gesture recognition and human–machine interaction.