Flexible strain sensor based on porous polydimethylsiloxane/multiwalled carbon nanotubes and silver nanowire binary composite film for human physiological signals monitoring
摘要
Flexible strain sensors are widely applied in medical diagnosis, electronic skin, health detection, and human movement. It is urgent to develop a flexible sensor with simple structure, ultra-low detection limit, excellent sensitivity, and broad detection range. Herein, a flexible strain sensor possessing a double-layered conductive network involving a porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and a silver nanowire (AgNW) is obtained. The porous PDMS/MWCNTs films are prepared by curing the PDMS/MWCNTs/NaCl mixture and dissolving the NaCl powder. By depositing different amount of AgNWs on the surface of PDMS/MWCNTs layer to prepare the high conductivity AgNWs, generating the low initial resistance. Due to the synergistic effects of the double-layered conductive network, the flexible strain sensor possessing a very high sensitivity (up to 221.2) and a very wide working range (up to 100%) is obtained. In addition, this sensor has a fast response (110 ms) and excellent dynamic stability (6000 cycles). In practical applications, the as-obtained sensor can accurately monitor the human motions and physiological signals, proving great potential application value in human motion detection. This work provides a new approach for developing high-performance flexible strain sensors.