Polydimethylsiloxane Material Research Articles

A flexible nanostructured multimodal sensor based on surface plasmon resonance

Biosensors are of great significance for human health and safety monitoring, especially the sensor based on Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR), widely used in biomolecular detection. Improving its sensitivity has always been the focus of research. In this paper, SPR in grating structures was primarily investigated and then a SPR-based nanoscale metal grating sensor was proposed. With Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulation, optimization of the sensor's duty ratio, thickness of the Gold (Au) layer, and periodic parameters was conducted. Then sensitivity and quality factor of the sensor are analyzed to obtain the optimal sensor parameters. With a grating period of 0.64 μm, Au layer thickness of 30 nm, and sensor's fill factor of 0.625, the sensor achieves a sensitivity of 0.417 μm/refractive index unit (RIU), demonstrating optimal performance. Additionally, Abaqus tensile simulations were performed on the grating imprinting section, validating the uniformity and consistency of strain in the Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate-Au film grating structure during stretching. Finally, a combination mold based on acrylic material is designed, effectively addressing the challenging demolding characteristics of cured PDMS material, offering an efficient manufacturing approach for PDMS substrate fabrication. The SPR-based nanoscale grating multimodal sensor designed in this paper exhibits high sensitivity and potential cost-effectiveness in protein molecule detection and flexible stress-strain sensing applications, revealing promising broad prospects for practical utilization.

From Chips-in-Lab to Point-of-Care Live Cell Device: Development of a Microfluidic Device for On-Site Cell Culture and High-Throughput Drug Screening.

Live cell assays provide real-time data of cellular responses. In combination with microfluidics, applications such as automated and high-throughput drug screening on live cells can be accomplished in small devices. However, their application in point-of-care testing (POCT) is limited by the requirement for bulky equipment to maintain optimal cell culture conditions. In this study, we propose a POCT device that allows on-site cell culture and high-throughput drug screening on live cells. We first observe that cell viabilities are substantially affected by liquid evaporation within the microfluidic device, which is intrinsic to the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) material due to its hydrophobic nature and nanopatterned surface. The unwanted PDMS-liquid-air interface in the cell culture environment can be eliminated by maintaining a persistent humidity of 95-100% or submerging the whole microfluidic device under water. Our results demonstrate that in the POCT device equipped with a water tank, both primary cells and cell lines can be maintained for up to 1 week without the need for external cell culture equipment. Moreover, this device is powered by a standard alkali battery and can automatically screen over 5000 combinatorial drug conditions for regulating neural stem cell differentiation. By monitoring dynamic variations in fluorescent markers, we determine the optimal doses of platelet-derived growth factor and epidermal growth factor to suppress proinflammatory S100A9-induced neuronal toxicities. Overall, this study presents an opportunity to transform lab-on-a-chip technology from a laboratory-based approach to actual point-of-care devices capable of performing complex experimental procedures on-site and offers significant advancements in the fields of personalized medicine and rapid clinical diagnostics.

Histone demethylase KDM3B mediates matrix stiffness-induced osteogenic differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells

Biomechanical signals in the extracellular niche are considered promising for programming the lineage specification of stem cells. Recent studies have reported that biomechanics, such as the microstructure of nanomaterials, can induce adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) to differentiate into osteoblasts, mediating gene regulation at the epigenetic level. Therefore, in this study, transcriptome expression levels of histone demethylases in ASCs were screened after treatment with different matrix stiffnesses, and histone lysine demethylase 3B (KDM3B) was found to promote osteogenic differentiation of ASCs in response to matrix stiffness, indicating a positive modulatory effect on this biological process. ASCs exhibited widespread and polygonal shapes with a distinct bundle-like expression of vinculin parallel to the axial cytoskeleton along the cell margins on the stiff matrix rather than round shapes with a smeared and shorter expression on the soft matrix. Comparatively rigid polydimethylsiloxane material directed ASCs into an osteogenic phenotype in inductive culture media via the upregulation of osteocalcin, alkaline phosphatase, and runt-related transcription factor 2. Treatment with KDM3B-siRNA decreased the expression of osteogenic differentiation markers and impaired mitochondrial dynamics and mitochondrial membrane potential. These results illustrate the critical role of KDM3B in the biomechanics-induced osteogenic commitment of ASCs and provide new avenues for the further application of stem cells as potential therapeutics for bone regeneration.

Photothermal superhydrophobic composite coatings based on n-tetradecane@CaCO3/TiN microcapsules for anti-/deicing

Ice accumulation on equipment and building surfaces is a scientific and modern engineering problem to be solved urgently. Compared to the energy-intensive and expensive active anti-/deicing approaches, passive energy-free technology based on advanced materials and surface engineering has received more attention. Herein, we successfully encapsulated n-tetradecane in calcium carbonate shell by in situ precipitation method, and the microcapsules reveal good energy-storage capability (99.9 %), latent heat (108.1 J g−1), and long-term durability. Combining the microcapsule with low-cost titanium nitride and low-surface-energy PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) materials, the multifunctional superhydrophobic composite coating has been successfully prepared. The composite coating surface possesses strong absorption in UV–vis-NIR bands with high photothermal conversion and storage capability. The results indicate that the composite coating successfully prolongs the icing time compared to traditional photothermal superhydrophobic surfaces, and accelerates the melting of ice droplets under light illumination, which demonstrates great potential in both anti-icing and deicing applications.

Artificial tactile system for pressure monitoring in extracorporeal circulation processes

Current intraoperative pressure monitoring methods still face significant limitations in perception and feedback, struggling to strike a balance between precision and wearable flexibility. Inspired by biological skin, we propose a biomimetic tactile sensing system for pressure monitoring during extracorporeal circulation, comprising flexible pressure sensors and artificial synaptic transistors. Aimed at addressing the aforementioned issues, our system employs a pyramid-shaped elastic design for flexible pressure sensors, utilizing biocompatible materials polydimethylsiloxane and multi-walled carbon nanotubes as the strain-sensitive layer. This configuration boasts ultra-high sensitivity and resolution (115 kPa−1), accurately detecting subtle pressure changes, such as blood circulation wall pressures. With artificial synaptic transistors as the information processing core, our system successfully simulates crucial neural processing functions, including excitatory post-synaptic currents and double-pulse facilitation, while providing alerts for abnormal blood pressure signals. This system facilitates real-time data processing at the device edge, reducing power consumption, improving efficiency, and better addressing the demands of large-scale physiological pressure data processing. It presents a significant reference for future developments in biomedical electronics and bionics.

Direct-Write Printed Slippery Surface for Assembling a High-Quality Graphene Structure and Its Application in Flexible Electric Actuators.

Graphene is a two-dimensional honeycomb-like nanomaterial generated by carbon atoms in sp2 hybridized orbitals to form a hexagonal lattice structure with excellent electrical, optical, and mechanical properties. The solution process method has been widely used to realize large-area patterned graphene structures for high-performance devices. In the method, graphene usually needs to be dispersed in solution, and the π-π bonding gravitational interactions between graphene sheets would lead to uncontrollable structures in solution and difficulty in obtaining high performance. In this work, a patterned graphene oxide (GO) structure with controllable thickness and layer spacing was realized by a direct-write printed slippery surface, which was used as a slippery limited template. After reducing GO into reduced graphene oxide (rGO), a flexible electric pattern with a conductivity of up to 6.425 × 103 S/m was realized. Furthermore, the patterned rGO structure was transferred on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which could generate less than a 5% change in resistance after 10,000 consecutive bends, and an anisotropic expansion based on rGO and PDMS materials under electro-thermal coupling. The patterned rGO structures could meet the performance requirements of highly sensitive and complex deformation applications as flexible electric actuators. This study provides great research significance and application value for patterning high-quality graphene structures and realizing high-performance flexible electronic devices.

Flexible Grippers with Programmable Three‐Dimensional Magnetization and Motions

Programmable magnetic soft grippers are highly desirable for diverse applications in drug delivery, object manipulation, and soft robotics. However, current magnetic programming grippers need to be driven by multiple physical fields, which are complicated to operate and single in motion. Here, a method for patterning hard magnetic microparticles in an elastomer matrix is reported. Based on digital light processing (DLP), this method uses controlled reorientation of magnetic particles and selective exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light to encode magnetic particles in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) materials with arbitrary three‐dimensional (3D) orientation. The combination of vertical and horizontal magnetic fields can produce different forces, causing different deformation modes of the grippers. Flexible grippers can be fabricated from a single precursor in one process and produce various deformation and motion forms when a single magnetic field is applied. Moreover, the gripper has the advantages of simple manipulation, fast response, and flexible movement, which is of great significance in the application of biological devices and soft robots.

Evaluation of the reusability of photocatalytic P25/PDMS membranes when hindering their hydrophobic recovery

Polydimethylsiloxane is a suitable photocatalyst support for wastewater treatment. However, as polydimethylsiloxane is hydrophobic it must be modified, to become hydrophilic prior to its application. Unfortunately, this modification is not permanent and polydimethylsiloxane materials can recover part of their original characteristics. Therefore, even though photocatalytic polydimethylsiloxane-based membranes exhibit a satisfactory performance in the abatement of pollutants, they present a low performance when reused. The main objective of this study was to develop methodologies that may improve the surface wettability of P25/polydimethylsiloxane materials to enhance their reusability. Thus, the following strategies were implemented to delay the hydrophobic recovery or decrease the water contact angle stabilization values of both polydimethylsiloxane and P25/polydimethylsiloxane membranes: increased amount of photocatalyst particles added to the matrix, prolongated curing process and finally storage/application of the material at low temperatures. According to the results, the followed approaches were effective in this regard. However, (i) the first two mentioned strategies led to the formation of photocatalysts agglomerates and, as such, the membranes exhibited a low photocatalytic activity compared to previous studies, and (ii) the last-mentioned strategy led to the inactivation of the photocatalyst. Therefore, it was concluded that an improvement in the surface wettability does not necessarily translate in an improvement of the materials performance, since it may affect other crucial characteristics. It was also concluded that the best results were achieved when P25 was attached to the surface of polydimethylsiloxane but no photocatalyst particles were added to the polymer bulk, when the curing process took four hours, and also when the photocatalytic process was conducted at 25 °C. With these conditions, the material exhibited a performance on the degradation of a mixture of three pollutants of, approximately, 55% in the first cycle, 35% in the second cycle and 30% in the third and fourth cycles.

Sandwich-Type Self-Healing Sensor with Multilevel for Motion Detection.

Real-time detection of various parts of the human body is crucial in medical monitoring and human-machine technology. However, existing self-healing flexible sensing materials are limited in real-life applications due to the weak stability of conductive networks and difficulty in balancing stretchability and self-healing properties. Therefore, the development of wearable flexible sensors with high sensitivity and fast response with self-healing properties is of great interest. In this paper, a novel multilevel self-healing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) material is proposed for enhanced sensing capabilities. The PDMS was designed to have multiple bonding mechanisms including hydrogen bonding, coordination bonding, disulfide bonding, and local covalent bonding. To further enhance its sensing properties, modified carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were embedded within the PDMS matrix using a solvent etching technique. This created a sandwich-type sensing material with improved stability and sensitivity. This self-healing flexible sensing material (self-healing efficiency = 70.1% at 80 °C and 6 h) has good mechanical properties (stretchability ≈413%, tensile strength ≈0.69 MPa), thermal conductivity, and electrical conductivity. It has ultrahigh sensitivity, which makes it possible to be manufactured as a multifunctional flexible sensor.

Accurate expression of neck motion signal by piezoelectric sensor data analysis

The development of high-precision sensors using flexible piezoelectric materials has the advantages of high sensitivity, high stability, good durability, and lightweight. The main problem with sensing equipment is low sensitivity, which is due to the mismatch between materials and analysis methods, resulting in the inability to effectively eliminate noise. To address this issue, we developed the denoising analysis method to motion signals captured by a flexible piezoelectric sensor fabricated from poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) materials. Experimental results demonstrate that this improved denoising method effectively removes noise components from neck muscle motion signals, thus obtaining high-quality, low-noise motion signal waveforms. Wavelet decomposition and reconstruction is a signal processing technique that involves decomposing a signal into different scales and frequency components using wavelets and then selectively reconstructing the signal to emphasize specific features or eliminate noise. The study employed the sym8 wavelet basis for wavelet decomposition and reconstruction. In the denoised signals, a high degree of stability and periodic peaks are distinctly manifested, while amplitude and frequency differences among different types of movements also become noticeably visible. As a result of this study, we are enabled to accurately analyze subtle variations in neck muscle motion signals, such as nodding, shaking the head, neck lateral flexion, and neck circles. Through temporal and frequency domain analysis of denoised motion signals, differentiation among various motion states can be achieved. Overall, this improved analytical approach holds broad application prospects across various types of piezoelectric sensors, such as healthcare monitoring, sports biomechanics.

Versatile properties of BaGd2ZnO5:Ho3+ nanomaterial: Compatible towards solid state lightening, anti-counterfeiting and biomedical applications

For the first time, BaGd2ZnO5:Ho3+ (1–11 mol %) nanophosphor (BGZO:Ho3+ NPs) is prepared using combustion synthesis by utilizing glycine as fuel. Phase purity is evaluated using Rietveld refinement and X-ray diffraction. Through crystallographic analysis, the orthorhombic symmetry type with Pbnm (62) space group has been determined. The size of the non-uniformly aggregated particles examined by morphological analysis ranges from 37 to 53 nm. Asignificant photoluminescence (PL) emission observed at 551 nm (green colour) for the 5S2+5F4→5I8 transition. Due to non-radiative energy transfer via cross-relaxation, concentration quenching is observed beyond 9 mol %. Thechromaticity coordinates of BGZO:9Ho3+ NPs is(x = 0.2870, y = 0.7016) suggested that it would be suitable for green emission in white light emitting diode applications. In this case, a flexible light-emitting polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) material serves as the framework for an anti-counterfeiting (AC) technique. Thrombosis is considered as a major threat to the society as it leads to death and disability. Despite, several risk factors oxidative stress has been considered as the key contributor of thrombosis. The most promising NPs were subsequently investigated for their ability to reduce oxidative stress and thrombosis. It is perceived that NPs demonstrated antioxidant properties by scavenging DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl). In addition, the phosphor inhibited platelet aggregation induced by Adenosine di-phosphate (ADP). The overall results clearly indicated that BGZO:Ho3+ NPs opens up a new avenue in forensic applications.

Ultra sensitive temperature sensor based on hybrid fiber optic interferometers and enhanced Vernier effect

An ultra-sensitive temperature sensor with enhanced Vernier effect based on Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) and Sagnac interferometer (SI) cascade was proposed and verified through experiments. FPI was made of the thermal sensitive material polydimethylsiloxane. SI was prepared using the panda polarization maintaining fiber. The temperature sensitivity of FPI is positive, while the temperature sensitivity of SI was negative. Therefore, when they were cascaded with similar free spectral ranges, the enhanced Vernier effect was produced, which can further improve the sensitivity magnification factor of traditional Vernier effects. The experimental results showed that the temperature sensitivity of the enhanced Vernier effect sensor was as high as −93.97 nm/°C, which is the highest sensitivity reported in the literature. The temperature sensitivity of traditional Vernier effect sensor is −42.26 nm/°C, and the sensitivity of enhanced Vernier effect sensor has been further improved by 2.22 times. When manufacturing enhanced Vernier effect sensor, there is no need to desensitize the reference interferometer, only the sensitivity symbols of the two interferometers are opposite, so it will not increase the manufacturing cost and difficulty of the sensor. In addition, the sensor has good repeatability and stability.

Molecular mechanism of the improved adhesion between PDMS adhesive and silicon substrate after thermal treatment

An interesting experimental observation recently found that thermal treatment of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) adhesives and the contact adhesion time can significantly improve the interfacial adhesion. However, the mechanism underlying such adhesion enhancement is unclear. To disclose the micro-mechanical mechanism of the adhesion improvement, contrast experiments are systematically carried out with PDMS adhesives respectively adhering on silicon and silicon dioxide substrates in the present paper. For the case of thermal treatment of PDMS adhesives while on the substrates, the adhesion strength of a PDMS adhesive on a silicon substrate is significantly stronger than that on a silicon dioxide substrate after thermal treatment at different temperatures, and the adhesion strength on both substrates increases with increasing thermal treatment temperature and contact time. For the case of first thermally treating the PDMS adhesive and then adhering to the silicon substrate, the adhesion strength is much smaller than that of thermally treating PDMS adhesives while on silicon substrates. This is mainly because the migration and restructuring of the PDMS molecular chains form intimate contact between the PDMS adhesive and substrate after thermal treatment. Meanwhile, high temperature could lead to the easy formation of hydrogen bonds at the interface between the PDMS adhesive and silicon substrate. The surface of silicon provides more favorable conditions to form hydrogen bonds than the silicon dioxide surface, leading to the stronger adhesion of PDMS adhesives on silicon substrates after thermal treatment. If the silicon dioxide surface is modified and grafted with hydroxyl (–OH) groups, which are one of the main groups forming hydrogen bonds with the PDMS material, the adhesion strength of the PDMS adhesive on the modified silicon dioxide substrate is approximately the same as that on the silicon substrate after thermal treatment. The results obtained in the present study could provide a new and convenient design strategy to achieve strong attachment without any surface microstructures.

Experimental and numerical investigations of heat transfer and flow characteristics during flow boiling in straight and diverging PDMS microchannel

Recent trends of miniaturization and densely packed circuits have necessitated the development of novel cooling methods, especially for emerging fields like flexible microelectronics, biotechnology, and nanotechnology. A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) based microchannel flow boiling heat sink can be used for these applications due to its unique properties as such as unique mechanical properties, biocompatibility, optical transparency, etc. PDMS microchannels are fabricated using soft lithography techniques, which involve using a mould to pattern the PDMS material. The mould is created using photolithography, and the PDMS is poured over the mould and cured to create the microchannels. In this study, an effort is made to compare the flow and heat transfer performance of a PDMS microchannel heat sink with different channel shapes, i.e. straight and diverging microchannel heat sinks for different heat flux and mass flux conditions. The PDMS microchannel was fabricated using the soft lithography technique and a flexible laser-induced graphene heater was fabricated and integrated with the developed PDMS microchannel to act as a heat source. Experimentally, the parameters like bubble pattern, pressure drop, exit vapour quality, and corresponding heat transfer coefficient were determined at varying mass and heat flux ranging from 19 to 114 kg m−2s−1 and from 13.3 to 156.6 kW m−2 respectively for both the microchannels. It was observed that the flow in the diverging microchannel is more stable and has a 13% higher heat transfer coefficient value compared to the straight microchannel under similar conditions. Further, a 3D numerical study was carried out to corroborate and elaborate on the results. The heat transfer, flow characteristics, and bubble pattern results show an excellent agreement with experimental results. This work has significant relevance in designing flexible microchannel heat sinks.

Fiber optic sensor for transformer temperature detection

AbstractThe safe and stable operation of the transformer is affected by the internal temperature. Therefore, it is very necessary to accurately and effectively detect the temperature of the transformer winding. To realize the effective detection of the internal temperature of the transformer, a fiber optic temperature sensor based on the structure of multimode fiber (MMF)–no core fiber (NCF)–multimode fiber (MMF) (i.e., MMF–NCF–MMF) is studied. The temperature sensitivity reaches 0.0313 nm/°C. Moreover, to enhance the accuracy of the test, the sensitive material polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is coated on the sensing area (the position of the NCF), and its temperature sensitivity reaches 0.123 nm/°C. By comparison, it was found that the temperature detection sensitivity increased by 3.93 times after coating PDMS. The sensor has the characteristics of simple structure, high sensitivity, and high integration, which provides research and application directions for temperature detection in the field of transformer health detection.

Dynamics Responses of Graphene Nanoplatelets‐Reinforced Polydimethylsiloxane Nanocomposites: A Molecular Dynamics Study

AbstractMolecular dynamics method is employed to characterize the mechanical properties of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) materials reinforced by graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs). Modeling results demonstrate that the addition of GNPs to PDMS significantly improves the damping properties of PDMS at high temperatures. The underlying physical mechanism is further investigated, and it is found that the interfacial interactions between the GNPs and PDMS play a crucial role in the energy dissipation capabilities. At elevated temperatures, a decrease in the interaction energy between the GNPs and PDMS matrix is observed, increasing the interfacial shipment, and improving the energy dissipation. In addition, GNPs will reflect more impact energy at a higher temperature. This study provides valuable insights into the use of GNPs for the improvement of the damping performance of PDMS materials at high temperatures.

Compact highly sensitive Fabry-Perot temperature and gas pressure sensing probe fabricated by a femtosecond laser and PDMS.

A high sensitivity optical fiber temperature and gas pressure sensor with integrated micro-cavity is proposed. First, a single-mode optical fiber (SMF) is spliced with a section of capillary, and then the sensitive material polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is filled into the capillary to form a Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI). Finally, a femtosecond laser is used to ablate the fiber core of the SMF to form the third reflecting surface, constituting two cascaded FPIs. When two FPIs have a similar free spectral range, a Vernier effect is produced. The temperature and gas pressure sensitivity of the sensor reached 14.41 nm/°C and 113.82 nm/MPa, respectively, after using the sensitive material and Vernier effect double sensitization technology. In addition, a fiber Bragg grating is cascaded with the sensor, which can realize the simultaneous measurement of temperature and gas pressure and eliminate cross-sensitivity.

Mechanical deformation of elastomer medical devices can enable microbial surface colonization

Elastomers such as silicone are common in medical devices (catheters, prosthetic implants, endoscopes), but they remain prone to microbial colonization and biofilm infections. For the first time, our work shows that rates of microbial surface attachment to polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) silicone can be significantly affected by mechanical deformation. For a section of bent commercial catheter tubing, bacteria (P. aeruginosa) show a strong preference for the ‘convex’ side compared to the ‘concave’ side, by a factor of 4.2. Further testing of cast PDMS materials in bending only showed a significant difference for samples that were manually wiped (damaged) beforehand (1.75 × 104 and 6.02 × 103 cells/mm2 on the convex and concave sides, respectively). We demonstrate that surface microcracks in elastomers are opened under tensile stress (convex bending) to become ‘activated’ as sites for microbial colonization. This work demonstrates that the high elastic limit of elastomers enables these microcracks to reversibly open and close, as ‘dynamic defects’. Commercial catheters have relatively high surface roughness inherent to manufacturing, but we show that even manual wiping of newly-cast PDMS is sufficient to generate surface microcracks. We consider the implication for medical devices that feature sustained, surgical, or cyclic deformation, in which localized tensile conditions may expose these surface defects to opportunistic microbes. As a result, our work showcases serious potential problems in the widespread usage and development of elastomers in medical devices.

The Additive Manufacturing Approach to Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) Microfluidic Devices: Review and Future Directions.

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the literature for fabricating PDMS microfluidic devices by employing additive manufacturing (AM) processes. AM processes for PDMS microfluidic devices are first classified into (i) the direct printing approach and (ii) the indirect printing approach. The scope of the review covers both approaches, though the focus is on the printed mold approach, which is a kind of the so-called replica mold approach or soft lithography approach. This approach is, in essence, casting PDMS materials with the mold which is printed. The paper also includes our on-going effort on the printed mold approach. The main contribution of this paper is the identification of knowledge gaps and elaboration of future work toward closing the knowledge gaps in fabrication of PDMS microfluidic devices. The second contribution is the development of a novel classification of AM processes from design thinking. There is also a contribution in clarifying confusion in the literature regarding the soft lithography technique; this classification has provided a consistent ontology in the sub-field of the fabrication of microfluidic devices involving AM processes.

Design of a Flexible UHF Hilbert Antenna for Partial Discharge Detection in Gas-Insulated Switchgear

This letter presents the design of a new flexible Hilbert antenna for built-in detection of partial discharges (PD) in gas-insulated switchgear (GIS). The fractal antenna is designed on flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) material of 124 mm × 122 mm × 0.5 mm, fed by CPW, and loaded with one circular slot and two rectangular slots in the ground plane of each subblock, and with a rectangular slot at the narrow opening to broaden the matching band and improve the gain of the antenna. The actual bandwidth of the antenna without bending is 422–800 MHz, 1.23–1.58 GHz, 1.65–1.7 GHz, and 1.79–3 GHz, covering 73.6% of the detection band, and the bending deformation has little effect on the antenna bandwidth. The measured peak gain of the antenna at a bending radius of 350 mm reaches 1.34 dB, exceeding the reported Hilbert antenna. The test and analysis of the antenna sensitivity are performed by 220 kV GIS PD experimental platform. Experimental results show that the flexible antenna designed in this article can effectively detect the high-frequency electromagnetic wave signal radiated by PD with a discharge amount of about 46 pC. The phase-resolved partial discharge analysis yields that the designed antenna has a high PD detection sensitivity.