Wang Hongjie, Guan Jilun, He Mei, Zhu Yanqiu, Cheng Fangchao
State Key Laboratory of Featured Metal Materials and Life-cycle Safety for Composite Structures, School of Resources, Environment and Materials, Guangxi University Nanning 530004 China
College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter Exeter EX4 4QF UK
RSC Adv. 2024 Feb 26;14(10):6865-6873. doi: 10.1039/d3ra08471j. eCollection 2024 Feb 21.
Flexible sensors have promising applications in the fields of health monitoring and artificial intelligence, which have attracted much attention from researchers. However, the design and manufacture of sensors with multiple sensing functions (like simultaneously having both temperature and pressure sensing capabilities) still present a significant challenge. Here, an ionic thermoelectric sensor for synchronous temperature and pressure sensing was developed on the basis of a carbon microtubes (CMTs)/potassium chloride (KCl)/gelatin composite consisting of gelatin as the polymer matrix, CMTs as the conductive material and KCl as the ion source. The designed CMTs/KCl/gelatin composite with the good ductility (830%) and flexibility can achieve a Seebeck coefficient of 4 mV K and a dual stimulus responsiveness to pressure and temperature. In addition, not only the movement of the human body (, fingers, arms), but also the temperature difference between the human body and the environment, were able to be monitored by the designed CMTs/KCl/gelatin sensors. This study provides a novel strategy for the design and preparation of high-performance flexible sensors by utilizing ion-gel thermoelectric materials and promotes the research of temperature and pressure sensing technologies.
柔性传感器在健康监测和人工智能领域有着广阔的应用前景，这引起了研究人员的广泛关注。然而，具有多种传感功能（如同时具备温度和压力传感能力）的传感器的设计和制造仍然面临重大挑战。在此，基于以明胶为聚合物基体、碳微管（CMTs）为导电材料、氯化钾（KCl）为离子源组成的碳微管（CMTs）/氯化钾（KCl）/明胶复合材料，开发了一种用于同步温度和压力传感的离子热电传感器。所设计的具有良好延展性（830%）和柔韧性的CMTs/KCl/明胶复合材料可实现4 mV K的塞贝克系数以及对压力和温度的双刺激响应。此外，所设计的CMTs/KCl/明胶传感器不仅能够监测人体（手指、手臂）的运动，还能监测人体与环境之间的温差。本研究通过利用离子凝胶热电材料为高性能柔性传感器的设计和制备提供了一种新策略，并推动了温度和压力传感技术的研究。
