Multifunctional hydrophobic fabric-based strain sensor for human motion detection and personal thermal management

Abstract

• Sensors with multifunctional biomedical applications are rational designed and fabricated. • The developed PDMS treatment enhances sensor's durability and stability. • The smart fabric has excellent photothermal and Joule-thermal performance as thermal management device. • Benefit from good anti-wetting and photothermal property, smart fabric exhibits superior de-icing ability. Multifunctional flexible devices for human motion detection and thermal management raised great attention as the problem of the aging population is becoming more and more serious. However, it is still a challenge to endow the devices with excellent stability and wide application scope. Here we prepared a hydrophobic and conductive fabric-based strain sensor for smart fabric via successively coating with polydopamine (PDA), polyaniline (PANI), polypyrrole (PPy), and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) through in-situ polymerization and dip-coating, which could be used for strain sensor and wearable heater both in air and underwater. The obtained sample exhibited a fast electrical response in 500 ms and could withstand 10000 times stretching-releasing cycles, additionally, the sample exhibited satisfactory electro-thermal and photo-thermal performances. As a whole, the multifunctional fabric-based devices with excellent performances show great potential to be applied in medical monitoring and personal care, especially for aged and disabled persons.