Institute of Flexible Electronics Technology of THU , Jiaxing 314000 , Zhejiang , China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2019 Sep 11;11(36):33370-33379. doi: 10.1021/acsami.9b12929. Epub 2019 Aug 22.
Flexible pressure sensors have attracted considerable attention because of their potential applications in healthcare monitoring and human-machine interactions. However, the complicated fabrication process and the cos of sensing materials limit their widespread applications in practice. Herein, a flexible pressure sensor with outstanding performances is presented through an extremely simple and cost-efficient fabrication process. The sensing materials of the sensor are based on low-cost carbon black (CB)@airlaid paper (AP) composites, which are just prepared by drop-casting CB solutions onto APs. Through simply stacking multiple CB@APs with an irregular surface and a fiber-network structure, the obtained pressure sensor demonstrates an ultrahigh sensitivity of 51.23 kPa and an ultralow detection limit of 1 Pa. Additionally, the sensor exhibits fast response time, wide working range, good stability, as well as excellent flexibility and biocompatibility. All the comprehensive and superior performances endow the sensor with abilities to precisely detect weak air flow, wrist pulse, phonation, and wrist bending in real time. In addition, an array electronic skin integrated with multiple CB@AP sensors has been designed to identify spatial pressure distribution and pressure magnitude. Through a biomimetic structure inspired by blooming flowers, a sensor with the open-petal structure has been designed to recognize the wind direction. Therefore, our study, which demonstrates a flexible pressure sensor with low cost, simple preparation, and superior performances, will open up for the exploration of cost-efficient pressure sensors in wearable devices.
柔性压力传感器因其在医疗保健监测和人机交互中的潜在应用而受到广泛关注。然而，其复杂的制造工艺和传感材料的成本限制了它们在实际中的广泛应用。在此，通过一种极其简单且经济高效的制造工艺，展示了一种具有优异性能的柔性压力传感器。传感器的传感材料基于低成本的碳黑（CB）@空气铺放纸（AP）复合材料，这些复合材料是通过将 CB 溶液滴铸在 AP 上制备得到的。通过简单地堆叠多个具有不规则表面和纤维网络结构的 CB@AP，所获得的压力传感器表现出超高的灵敏度为 51.23 kPa 和超低的检测限为 1 Pa。此外，该传感器还表现出快速的响应时间、宽的工作范围、良好的稳定性以及出色的柔韧性和生物相容性。所有这些综合的卓越性能使传感器能够实时精确地检测微弱气流、手腕脉搏、发声和手腕弯曲。此外，还设计了一个集成了多个 CB@AP 传感器的阵列电子皮肤，以识别空间压力分布和压力大小。通过受开花启发的仿生结构，设计了一种具有开瓣结构的传感器来识别风向。因此，我们的研究展示了一种具有低成本、简单制备和卓越性能的柔性压力传感器，这将为可穿戴设备中低成本压力传感器的探索开辟道路。
