The dual-mode sensing of pressure and temperature based on multilayer structured flexible sensors for intelligent monitoring of human physiological information

Abstract

Flexible multifunctional sensor with excellent performance via unsophisticated fabrication method is imperatively anticipated for the development of smart human health monitoring systems and wearable electronic devices. Here, we report a multilayer dual-mode flexible sensor (DMFS) by integrating different sensing layers on the two sides of a flexible dielectric substrate for sensing pressure and temperature. The introduction of elastic nanofiber skeleton structure and internal “sea urchin” like conductive materials is the top priority for the DMFS to have excellent sensing performance and durability. As a result, the fabricated DMFS ultimately shows excellent pressure sensitivity of 111.96 kPa−1 within a wide sensing range up to 70 kPa. In the case of temperature stimulus, the DMFS accomplishes a high, linear response to the ambient temperature variation within the range from 20 °C to 50 °C, while maintaining high stability and durability after long-term bending cycles. In addition, DMFS reveals its great potential for non-contact dynamic temperature measurement by being integrated into an intelligent temperature monitoring system. Most importantly, a novel smart human health-monitoring system, which attributes to the coordination and common work of multiple DMFS, has been developed and realizes simultaneous detection of multiple physiological signals of human beings in real-time.