Lee Seung-Woo, Lee Ju-Seong, Yu Hyeon-Wook, Kim Tae-Hee, Kim Hyun-Seok
Division of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Dongguk University, Seoul 04620, Republic of Korea.
Polymers (Basel). 2025 Jun 30;17(13):1825. doi: 10.3390/polym17131825.
Wearable sensors have rapidly advanced, enabling applications such as human activity monitoring, electronic skin, and biomimetic robotics. To meet the growing demands of these applications, multifunctional sensing has become essential for wearable devices. However, most existing studies predominantly focus on enhancing single-function sensing capabilities. This study introduces a multifunctional sensor that combines high stretchability for strain and pressure detection with ultraviolet (UV) sensing capability. To achieve simultaneous detection of strain, pressure, and UV light, a multi-sensing approach was employed: a capacitive method for strain and pressure detections and a resistive method utilizing a pn-heterojunction diode for UV detection. In the capacitive method, polyaniline (PANI) served as parallel-plate electrodes, while silicon-based elastomer acted as the dielectric layer. This configuration enabled up to 100% elongation and enhanced operational stability through encapsulation. The sensor demonstrated a strong linear relationship between capacitance value changes reasonably based on the area of PANI, and showed a good linearity with an R-squared value of 0.9918. It also detected pressure across a wide range, from low (0.4 kPa) to high (9.4 kPa). Furthermore, for wearable applications, the sensor reliably captured capacitance variations during finger bending at different angles. For UV detection, a pn-heterojunction diode composed of p-type silicon and n-type zinc oxide nanorods exhibited a rapid response time of 6.1 s and an on/off ratio of 13.8 at -10 V. Durability under 100% tensile strain was confirmed through Von Mises stress calculations using finite element modeling. Overall, this multifunctional sensor offers significant potential for a variety of applications, including human motion detection, wearable technology, and robotics.
可穿戴传感器发展迅速，推动了诸如人体活动监测、电子皮肤和仿生机器人等应用的发展。为满足这些应用不断增长的需求，多功能传感对于可穿戴设备而言已变得至关重要。然而，大多数现有研究主要集中在增强单功能传感能力上。本研究介绍了一种多功能传感器，它将用于应变和压力检测的高拉伸性与紫外线（UV）传感能力相结合。为实现对应变、压力和紫外线的同时检测，采用了一种多传感方法：用于应变和压力检测的电容式方法以及利用pn异质结二极管进行紫外线检测的电阻式方法。在电容式方法中，聚苯胺（PANI）用作平行板电极，而硅基弹性体用作介电层。这种配置能够实现高达100%的伸长率，并通过封装提高了操作稳定性。该传感器基于聚苯胺的面积，电容值变化之间呈现出很强的线性关系，并且线性度良好，决定系数R平方值为0.9918。它还能在很宽的压力范围内进行检测，从低（0.4 kPa）到高（9.4 kPa）。此外，对于可穿戴应用，该传感器能够可靠地捕捉手指在不同角度弯曲时的电容变化。对于紫外线检测，由p型硅和n型氧化锌纳米棒组成的pn异质结二极管在-10 V时表现出6.1 s的快速响应时间和13.8的开/关比。通过使用有限元模型进行冯·米塞斯应力计算，证实了在100%拉伸应变下的耐久性。总体而言，这种多功能传感器在包括人体运动检测、可穿戴技术和机器人技术在内的各种应用中具有巨大潜力。
