Rigid Sensors Research Articles

A Three-Dimensional Surface-Adaptive Stretchable Sensor for Online Monitoring of Composite Materials Curing.

Recently, rigid sensors have been commonly applied to online monitoring of the core curing processes of composite materials to prevent both overcuring and under-curing. However, conventional rigid sensors are prone to causing cracks and bubbles in composite materials during the curing process, thereby affecting both the mechanical performance and the overall reliability of the materials. Herein, stretchable interdigital dielectric sensors with flexible substrates and electrodes are designed to conform to complex 3D surfaces, thus enabling embedded nondestructive monitoring of composite curing processes. The sensors obtained can endure 1000 cycles of bending from 0° to 180° and 1000 cycles of stretching at 30% strain while still conforming perfectly to complex 3D surfaces, thus overcoming the inability of traditional curing monitoring sensors to bend. Additionally, sensor integration with an electronic circuit enables real-time data collection and transmission, which makes the device more portable, compact, and lightweight. Moreover, after atmospheric exposure for 5 months, the unit sensitivity of the sensor decreased by only 0.1%, thus demonstrating its excellent reliability and stability. Furthermore, during curing monitoring of the complex three-dimensional surfaces of the Fendouzhe deep-sea submersible, the unit's sensitivity is close to that of conventional planar monitoring equipment, decreasing by only 0.4%. The proposed online nondestructive monitoring technology demonstrates high sensitivity, high monitoring accuracy, and high reliability during surface monitoring, thus enabling long-term curing monitoring under complex nonplanar conditions.

Self-powered flexible sensor network for continuous monitoring of crop micro-environment and growth states

Monitoring crops’ micro-environment and growth states is significant for developing smart agriculture. However, the traditional rigid and large-sized sensor systems cannot meet the demands of precision agriculture for multi-parameter and high-throughput monitoring. Here, we integrate a flexible sensor system with low-power communication techniques, designing a two-layer star topology sensor network based on BLE and NB-IoT protocol. The sensors are arranged on flexible substrates, allowing them to closely adhere to various parts of crops, such as stems and leaves. To ensure the accuracy of the sensors, they are evaluated and calibrated in the laboratory. A solar energy harvesting system is designed for the sensor network to make it self-powered and successfully measure temperature, humidity, illumination, and leaf angles stably, demonstrating the system’s feasibility. The deployment cost of the sensor network is significantly lower than that of traditional automatic weather stations, showcasing its potential for widespread application in farmlands.

Dynamic Peripheral Hemoperfusion Distribution Monitoring Based on Janus Flexible Sensor System.

Peripheral vascular disease is a worldwide leading health concern. Real-time peripheral hemoperfusion monitoring during treatment is essential to plan treatment strategies to improve circulatory enhancement effects. The present work establishes a Janus flexible perfusion (JFP) sensor system for dynamic peripheral hemoperfusion monitoring. We develop a Janus structure with different Young's modulus to improve the mechanical properties for motion artifacts suppression. Besides, we propose a peripheral perfusion index (PPI) based on an optical perfusion model that is experimentally verified using an in-vitro model. The effectiveness of the system is assessed in three experimental scenarios, including motion artifact-robust test, induced vascular occlusion, and peripheral hemoperfusion monitoring with the intermittent pneumatic compression treatment. The noise level of the traditional rigid sensor is five times that of the JFP sensor within the effective signal frequency domain when there is movement. The PPI can effectively discriminate between different peripheral hemoperfusion states and has a correlation coefficient of 0.92 with the Laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) mean values. The kappa statistic between the JFP sensor and LDF is 0.78, indicating substantial agreement to estimate the peripheral hemoperfusion improvements. The sensor system we proposed can monitor peripheral hemoperfusion variation in real-time and is insensitive to motion artifacts. The proposed sensing system provides a functional module for real-time estimation of peripheral hemoperfusion during clinical interventions.

Nanoengineering Ultrathin Flexible Pressure Sensors with Superior Sensitivity and Wide Range via Nanocomposite Structures.

Flexible pressure sensors have attracted great interest due to their bendable, stretchable, and lightweight characteristics compared to rigid pressure sensors. However, the contradictions among sensitivity, detection limit, thickness, and detection range restrict the performance of flexible pressure sensors and the scope of their applications, especially for scenarios requiring conformal fitting, such as rough surfaces such as the human skin. This paper proposes a novel flexible pressure sensor by combining the nanoengineering strategy and nanocomposite structures. The nanoengineering strategy utilizes the bending deformation of nanofilm instead of the compression of the active layer to achieve super high sensitivity and low detection limit; meanwhile, the nanocomposite structures introduce distributed microbumps that delay the adhesion of nanofilm to enlarge the detection range. As a result, this device not only ensures an ultrathin thickness of 1.6 μm and a high sensitivity of 84.29 kPa-1 but also offers a large detection range of 20 kPa and an ultralow detection limit of 0.07 Pa. Owing to the ultrathin thickness as well as high performance, this device promotes applications in detecting fingertip pressure, flexible mechanical gripping, and so on, and demonstrates significant potential in wearable electronics, human-machine interaction, health monitoring, and tactile perception. This device offers a strategy to resolve the conflicts among thickness, sensitivity, detection limit, and detection range; therefore, it will advance the development of flexible pressure sensors and contribute to the community and other related research fields.

Flexible sensor based on conformable, sticky, transparent elastomers for electronic skin

As 5G technology advances and enhances the interconnection of science and technology, the demand for advanced sensors has increased. Conventional rigid sensors are inadequate to meet these new requirements, thus sparking significant interest in flexible sensors. However, taking into account the biocompatibility, skin compliance, sensing performance, mechanical properties and optical properties of flexible sensors is still the direction of efforts. Therefore, in this study, the flexible sensor with a sandwich structure was prepared using AgNWs as a conductive filler and P32-PDMS elastomer as a flexible substrate. The PDMS elastomer is modified by blending PEG-PPG-PEG and PDMS, giving the P32-PDMS elastomer low Young’s modulus (32.35 kPa), high elongation at break (over 450 %) and good adhesion (18.94 N/m), and the P32-PDMS elastomer still retains a certain light transmittance (82.22 %) and biocompatibility (RGR=89.524). These properties simultaneously endow the flexible sensor with good sensitivity (GF=17.27), wide detection range (0–100 % strain), and excellent cycling stability (5000 cycles). When the flexible sensor is used as e-skin to monitor human body movements, stable signals are generated regardless of the low-strain movements of the human body (pulse and sound) or the high-strain movements of the human body (pressing and joint bending). Therefore, the prepared flexible sensor has great potential as e-skin in many fields such as personal health monitoring, human motion detection, human–computer interaction, flexible display, etc.

Soft Crawling Microrobot Based on Flexible Optoelectronics Enabling Autonomous Phototaxis in Terrestrial and Aquatic Environments.

Many organisms move directly toward light for prey hunting or navigation, which is called phototaxis. Mimicking this behavior in robots is crucially important in the energy industry and environmental exploration. However, the phototaxis robots with rigid bodies and sensors still face challenges in adapting to unstructured environments, and the soft phototaxis robots often have high requirements for light sources with limited locomotion performance. Here, we report a 3.5 g soft microrobot that can perceive the azimuth angle of light sources and exhibit rapid phototaxis locomotion autonomously enabled by three-dimensional flexible optoelectronics and compliant shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators. The optoelectronics is assembled from a planar patterned flexible circuit with miniature photodetectors, introducing the self-occlusion to light, resulting in high sensing ability (error < 3.5°) compared with the planar counterpart. The actuator produces a straightening motion driven by an SMA wire and is then returned to a curled shape by a prestretched elastomer layer. The actuator exhibits rapid actuation within 0.1 s, a significant degree of deformation (curvature change of ∼87 m-1) and a blocking force of ∼0.4 N, which is 68 times its own weight. Finally, we demonstrated the robot is capable of autonomously crawling toward a moving light source in a hybrid aquatic-terrestrial environment without human intervention. We envision that our microrobot could be widely used in autonomous light tracking applications.

Resistive Gas Sensors Based on 2D TMDs and MXenes.

ConspectusGas sensors are used in various applications to sense toxic gases, mainly for enhanced safety. Resistive sensors are particularly popular owing to their ability to detect trace amounts of gases, high stability, fast response times, and affordability. Semiconducting metal oxides are commonly employed in the fabrication of resistive gas sensors. However, these sensors often require high working temperatures, bringing about increased energy consumption and reduced selectivity. Furthermore, they do not have enough flexibility, and their performance is significantly decreased under bending, stretching, or twisting. To address these challenges, alternative materials capable of operating at lower temperatures with high flexibility are needed. Two-dimensional (2D) materials such as MXenes and transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) offer high surface area and conductivity owing to their unique 2D structure, making them promising candidates for realization of resistive gas sensors. Nevertheless, their sensing performance in pristine form is typically weak and unacceptable, particularly in terms of response, selectivity, and recovery time (trec). To overcome these drawbacks, several strategies can be employed to enhance their sensing properties. Noble-metal decoration such as (Au, Pt, Pd, Rh, Ag) is a highly promising method, in which the catalytic effects of noble metals as well as formation of potential barriers with MXenes or TMDs eventually contribute to boosted response. Additionally, bimetallic noble metals such as Pt-Pd and Au/Pd with their synergistic properties can further improve sensor performance. Ion implantation is another feasible approach, involving doping of sensing materials with the desired concentration of dopants through control over the energy and dosage of the irradiation ions as well as creation of structural defects such as oxygen vacancies through high-energy ion-beam irradiation, contributing to enhanced sensing capabilities. The formation of core-shell structures is also effective, creating numerous interfaces between core and shell materials that optimize the sensing characteristics. However, the shell thickness needs to be carefully optimized to achieve the best sensing output. To reduce energy consumption, sensors can operate in a self-heating condition where an external voltage is applied to the electrodes, significantly lowering the power requirements. This enables sensors to function in energy-constrained environments, such as remote or low-energy areas. An important advantage of 2D MXenes and TMDs is their high mechanical flexibility. Unlike semiconducting metal oxides that lack mechanical flexibility, MXenes and TMDs can maintain their sensing performance even when integrated onto flexible substrates and subjected to bending, tilting, or stretching. This flexibility makes them ideal for fabricating flexible and portable gas sensors that rigid sensors cannot achieve.

Non-Newtonian fluid coupling media for wearable ultrasound imaging systems using rigid linear sensor array

Wearable ultrasound systems are surpassing traditional boundaries for continuous and real-time patient care and diagnostics. However, these systems have limitations due to the use of conventional coupling media with a high dehydration rate for long-term use, leading image quality to deteriorate over time. Additionally, the use of conventional acoustic gel with ultrasound probes on wearable mounts around curved human surfaces leads to imperfect probe edge contact. In this paper, we propose a Non-Newtonian-Fluid based acoustic gel coupler with high structural stability and a very low dehydration rate for wearable ultrasound systems that overcomes the above limitations. The proposed acoustic coupler exhibited enhanced imaging with a 35 % increase in lateral resolution on curved surfaces and material parameters with a low dehydration rate of 32 % and a 3.5 % increase in density, over a frequency range of 4.60 MHz to 10.60 MHz. In addition, the measurements revealed a reduced acoustic attenuation of 0.328 dB/cm/MHz with a speed of sound of 1595 m/s. Thus, integrating Non-Newtonian-based acoustic gel with these improved parameters will make wearable ultrasound systems more appropriate for consistent and continuous use on irregular and curved surfaces.

Flexible anisotropic magnetoresistive sensors for novel magnetic flux leakage testing capabilities

Rigid magnetic field sensors such as anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR), giant magnetoresistive (GMR) and Hall sensors have been used for years and have become industry standard for electromagnetic non-destructive testing (NDT). Recent technological developments in the field of flexible electronics allow for the fabrication of reshapeable magnetic field sensors on flexible substrates via thin-film deposition or printing. The magnetic properties of these sensors have comparable characteristics to industry-standard rigid magnetic field sensors, with the added ability of adapting to the surface of complex components and scanning in contact with the sample surface. This improves defect detectability and magnetic signal strength by minimizing the scanning lift-off (LO) distance. In this article flexible AMR sensors mounted on a rotative mechanical holder were used to scan a semi-circular ferromagnetic sample with 3 reference defects via magnetic flux leakage (MFL) testing, thus demonstrating the applicability of this type of sensors for the scanning of curved samples. In order to benchmark the performance of these sensors in comparison to industry standard rigid magnetic field sensors, a ferromagnetic sample with 10 reference defects of different depths was scanned employing flexible AMR and rigid GMR sensors. Defects with depths ranging from 110μm up to 2240μm were detected with an signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 2.7 up to 27.9 (for flexible AMR sensors) and 6.2 up to 72.3 (for rigid GMR sensors), respectively. A 2D magnetometer mapping of the sample with a spatial scanning step of 10×50μm2 (flexible AMR) and 16×100μm2 (rigid GMR) was obtained. The results show that this type of sensor can be used for high-resolution and high-detail mapping of defects on the surface of planar and non-planar ferromagnetic samples since the scanning lift-off distance is equal to the substrate thickness of 20μm for in-contact scanning. The SNR comparison between flexible and rigid sensors shows that the performance of the flexible AMR sensors employed is not very far behind the performance of the rigid GMR sensors used.

Revolutionizing digital healthcare networks with wearable strain sensors using sustainable fibers

AbstractWearable strain sensors have attracted research interest owing to their potential within digital healthcare, offering smarter tracking, efficient diagnostics, and lower costs. Unlike rigid sensors, fiber‐based ones compete with their flexibility, durability, adaptability to body structures as well as eco‐friendliness to environment. Here, the sustainable fiber‐based wearable strain sensors for digital health are reviewed, and material, fabrication, and practical healthcare aspects are explored. Typical strain sensors predicated on various sensing modalities, be it resistive, capacitive, piezoelectric, or triboelectric, are explained and analyzed according to their strengths and weaknesses toward fabrication and applications. The applications in digital healthcare spanning from body area sensing networks, intelligent health management, and medical rehabilitation to multifunctional healthcare systems are also evaluated. Moreover, to create a more complete digital health network, wired and wireless methods of data collection and examples of machine learning are elaborated in detail. Finally, the prevailing challenges and prospective insights into the advancement of novel fibers, enhancement of sensing precision and wearability, and the establishment of seamlessly integrated systems are critically summarized and offered. This endeavor not only encapsulates the present landscape but also lays the foundation for future breakthroughs in fiber‐based wearable strain sensor technology within the domain of digital health.

Soft-metal bonding-enabled recyclable and anti-interference flexible multilayer piezoelectric sensor for tractor tire strain monitoring

Real-time efficient sensing of machine-soil interactions, especially precise tire-ground contact information, plays a critical role in cultivation, seeding, and harvesting for smart agriculture. However, the complicated agricultural environment poses a considerable challenge to traditional rigid sensors, which cannot suffer from both large deformation and electromagnetic interference. Here, we report a novel soft-metal BiInSn bonding-enabled recyclable and anti-interference flexible multilayer piezoelectric sensor for monitoring tractor tire strain. The printed BiInSn-ink electrode fully wraps the surface fibers of porous BaTiO3/PVDF-HFP electrospun films only through a low pressure at low temperature due to its unique thermal-softening effects, which of the adhesion strength is superior to the intrinsic tension limit of the film. The compact multilayer piezoelectric sensor is thus easily prepared, remarkably increasing the output voltage compared to a single-layer case (up to 300% for three layers). Benefiting from the low melting point of the BiInSn alloy, the sensors are easily recyclable compared to conventional metal electrodes prepared with copper, silver, and gold. In addition, its high electrical conductivity also enables the shielding layer to achieve ultrahigh shielding effectiveness of 2100 dB mm−1. This sensor can be demonstrated for tire strain sensing under complex operating conditions such as plowing, harrowing, and fertilizer application. These findings serve as a foundation for accelerating the development of smart agriculture.

Flash graphene and poly(o-methoxy aniline) for the composition of a solvent-based conductive ink

Conductive inks are essential components in electronics as they enable the printing of electronic circuits and components on diverse surfaces. Furthermore, they can be easily tailored to enhance chemical bonding with specific targets in sensing devices. This technology plays a crucial role in the development of both rigid and wearable sensors. Conductive inks for printed electronics and sensor devices should possess several key characteristics, including high conductivity, flexibility, affordability, and compatibility with various substrates. However, conventional conductive inks based on metal nanoparticles tend to be expensive and lack flexibility. This study aims to produce a conductive ink comprised of carbon-black-derived flash graphene (CBFG) and poly(o-methoxy aniline) (POMA), which can be applied to electronic devices. The structures and morphology of both precursors were assessed, and the electrical conductivity of ink coatings containing CBFG, POMA, and a combination of both was investigated. The effect of each component's concentration on the ink's electrical conductivity (EC) was investigated using a 23 factorial design of experiment. In conclusion, the most conductive film presented an EC of approximately 0.768 S m−1 when the concentrations of graphene, POMA, and binder were 40.0, 2.0, and 4.0 mg L−1, respectively. While further research is needed to explore the flexibility and adhesion properties of the ink on different substrates, our solvent and organic-based conductive ink offer environmental benefits and boost sensor performance.

Development of a smart artificial muscle using optical fibres

A McKibben artificial muscle is a fluid-driven soft actuator comprising sleeve fibres and rubber tube. However, as typical bulky and rigid displacement sensors are unsuitable as sensor elements in soft actuators, displacement sensing is challenging for the McKibben artificial muscle. Therefore, we propose an optical fibre-based smart artificial muscle (OSAM) to estimate self-displacement from the bending loss of the optical fibre used as the sleeve fibre. The optical fibre can be effortlessly integrated into the OSAM sleeve using a braiding machine, which is generally used for manufacturing strings, easing the mass production process. The radius of curvature of the optical fibre changed when the OSAM was driven. The displacement of the artificial muscle was estimated based on the sensor output. To demonstrate the usefulness of OSAM, displacement feedback control experiments were conducted using the optical fibre sensor integrated into OSAM. From the results, OSAM’s displacement showed a good response to the target displacement. Therefore, the developed artificial muscle can facilitate displacement feedback control without requiring external sensors, which in turn can improve the performance of rehabilitation and wearable devices.

Antidiabetic Close Loop Based on Wearable DNA-Hydrogel Glucometer and Implantable Optogenetic Cells.

Diabetes mellitus and its associated secondary complications have become a pressing global healthcare issue. The current integrated theranostic plan involves a glucometer-tandem pump. However, external condition-responsive insulin delivery systems utilizing rigid glucose sensors pose challenges in on-demand, long-term insulin administration. To overcome these challenges, we present a novel model of antidiabetic management based on printable metallo-nucleotide hydrogels and optogenetic engineering. The conductive hydrogels were self-assembled by bioorthogonal chemistry using oligonucleotides, carbon nanotubes, and glucose oxidase, enabling continuous glucose monitoring in a broad range (0.5-40 mM). The optogenetically engineered cells were enabled glucose regulation in type I diabetic mice via a far-red light-induced transgenic expression of insulin with a month-long avidity. Combining with a microchip-integrated microneedle patch, a prototyped close-loop system was constructed. The glucose levels detected by the sensor were received and converted by a wireless controller to modulate far-infrared light, thereby achieving on-demand insulin expression for several weeks. This study sheds new light on developing next-generation diagnostic and therapy systems for personalized and digitalized precision medicine.

Current Landscape of the Robotic Tactile Array Sensors and Algorithm‐Based Performance Enhancement

The automated robots utilizing the traditional rigid tactile sensors have achieved significant success in effective task execution. Advancing into the era of service robots and humanoids that should perform sophisticated works in daily life, recent research trends in robotic tactile sensors have been shifting from the conventional rigid sensors to flexible/stretchable sensors. Over the past decade, the flexible/stretchable tactile sensors with human skin‐like mechanical compliance and stimulation perceptions have seen considerable advances. However, there are many substantial remaining challenges to produce practically useful flexible/stretchable tactile sensors such as the signal hysteresis originating from sensor material and the limited spatial resolution resulting from excessive addressing lines and signal interferences. Incorporation of learning‐based algorithms and data analysis techniques have been introduced recently and made remarkable successes in improving the challenges. Because most robotic tactile sensors are fabricated using the electronic sensing mechanisms or platforms, this article presents a concise overview on recent flexible/stretchable tactile sensors. This article introduces a brief discussion on the sensor performance parameters and sensing mechanisms, and the algorithmic approaches. In addition, it addresses existing challenges associated with current tactile array sensors and algorithms, then discusses prospects, and proposes a research direction for immediate practical uses in robots.

Large-scale smart bioreactor with fully integrated wireless multivariate sensors and electronics for long-term in situ monitoring of stem cell culture.

Achieving large-scale, cost-effective, and reproducible manufacturing of stem cells with the existing devices is challenging. Traditional single-use cell-bag bioreactors, limited by their rigid and single-point sensors, struggle with accuracy and scalability for high-quality cell manufacturing. Here, we introduce a smart bioreactor system that enables multi-spatial sensing for real-time, wireless culture monitoring. This scalable system includes a low-profile, label-free thin-film sensor array and electronics integrated with a flexible cell bag, allowing for simultaneous assessment of culture properties such as pH, dissolved oxygen, glucose, and temperature, to receive real-time feedback for up to 30 days. The experimental results show the accurate monitoring of time-dynamic and spatial variations of stem cells and myoblast cells with adjustable carriers from a plastic dish to a 2-liter cell bag. These advances open up the broad applicability of the smart sensing system for large-scale, lower-cost, reproducible, and high-quality engineered cell manufacturing for broad clinical use.

Flexible capacitive pressure sensors and their applications in human-machine interactions

Flexible pressure sensors offer more significant advantages than rigid sensors in various applications, including human-computer interaction, medical health, and robot touch. However, this also places more stringent demands on the materials used. For example, the materials must be thin and soft enough to fit onto the surface of the human skin or be implanted into the body while also exhibiting good biocompatibility and matching the mechanical properties of biological tissues. Regarding device performance, flexible pressure sensor design primarily focuses on enhancing sensitivity, response time, detection limit, and stability. Researchers have recently been expanding these sensors' pressure response range, pressure resolution, spatial resolution, and tensile performance, which will further broaden their potential applications. This review provides an overview of the recent classification of flexible pressure sensors, covering their sensing principle, sensing performance, and future application prospects.

Combining OPM and lesion mapping data for epilepsy surgery planning: a simulation study

When planning for epilepsy surgery, multiple potential sites for resection may be identified through anatomical imaging. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) using optically pumped sensors (OP-MEG) is a non-invasive functional neuroimaging technique which could be used to help identify the epileptogenic zone from these candidate regions. Here we test the utility of a-priori information from anatomical imaging for differentiating potential lesion sites with OP-MEG. We investigate a number of scenarios: whether to use rigid or flexible sensor arrays, with or without a-priori source information and with or without source modelling errors. We simulated OP-MEG recordings for 1309 potential lesion sites identified from anatomical images in the Multi-centre Epilepsy Lesion Detection (MELD) project. To localise the simulated data, we used three source inversion schemes: unconstrained, prior source locations at centre of the candidate sites, and prior source locations within a volume around the lesion location. We found that prior knowledge of the candidate lesion zones made the inversion robust to errors in sensor gain, orientation and even location. When the reconstruction was too highly restricted and the source assumptions were inaccurate, the utility of this a-priori information was undermined. Overall, we found that constraining the reconstruction to the region including and around the participant’s potential lesion sites provided the best compromise of robustness against modelling or measurement error.

Soft electronic skin for self-deployable tape-spring hinges

Thin-walled structures utilizing the release of stored strain energy for self-deployment have gained popularity in deployable space structures. However, the integration of traditional rigid or bulky sensors to monitor their mechanical behavior presents challenges due to large local deformations and strains involved in folding and deployment. Here we introduce a concept of structural electronic skin (e-skin) that is soft, lightweight, and designed for sensing the folding and deployment of tape-spring hinges. The e-skin demonstrates the capability to accommodate significant hinge deformation and enables multimodal sensing, including strain measurements, motion sensing, and dynamics monitoring. The research showcases a promising approach that leverages the design and manufacturing of soft electronics to fulfill the requirements of thin, lightweight, and soft functional devices for multifunctionality in deployable space structures.

Design of flexible sensor for wind pressure monitoring of stay cables

Strong winds can make a bridge’s cable-stayed cables produce violent vibrations, leading to fatigue of the cable-stayed cables and damaging the cable-stayed bridge’s structure. Accurately and effectively obtaining data on the wind loads applied to the cable-stayed cables is important for assessing the cable-stayed cables’ health. The existing sensing elements for detection include diffusion silicon piezoresistive sensor, strain gauge, and other rigid sensors. However, most of them present such disadvantages as rigidity, difficult to fit the curved surface, high cost and low sensitivity. And it cannot be directly installed on the surface of the cable. In this paper, a conductive hydrogel flexible pressure sensor based on TA/CB@PDMS was developed, using carbon black (CB) as the main conductive medium, with good electrical conductivity, high sensitivity (0.65 kPa−1) and excellent tensile properties (210% tensile breakage). Meanwhile, a salt permeation method (Soak the sensor in LiBr solution) was used to effectively inhibit the sensor’s water from being evaporated and frozen. Its substrate incorporates tannic acid to increase the sensor’s adhesion so that it adheres well to the diagonal cable’s surface. In this paper, the wind speed variation around the diagonal cable and the force distribution on the surface with considering the fluid-structure coupling effect are analyzed by ANSYS WORKBECH finite element simulation. Wind tunnel experiments simulate the sensor’s force response when the inclined cable is subjected to different wind speeds, and the detection accuracy reaches 96.17%. The results show the sensor developed in this paper can realize accurate wind pressure detection of the inclined cable. This study provides a new method for wind pressure detection and health inspection of diagonal cables.