Thiolated graphene@polyester fabric-based multilayer piezoresistive pressure sensor for detecting human motions

Lin Zhang, Hongqiang Li*, Xuejun Lai, Tianyuan Gao, Jian Yang*, Xingrong Zeng*

Abstract:  In the past several years, wearable pressure sensors have arisen the new surge of interest worldwide due to their important applications in the areas of health monitoring, electronic skin and smart robots. However, it is still a great challenge to simultaneously achieve wide pressure sensing range and high sensitivity for the sensors until now. Herein, we proposed an innovative strategy to construct multilayer-structure piezoresistive pressure sensors with in situ generated thiolated graphene@polyester (GSH@PET) fabric via one-pot method. Taking advantages of the spacing among the rough fabric layers and the highly conductive GSH, the sensor realized not only wide pressure range (0-200 kPa), but also high sensitivity (8.36 and 0.028 kPa-1 in the ranges of 0-8 and 30-200 kPa, respectively). After 500 loading-unloading cycles, the sensor still kept high sensitivity and stable response, exhibiting the great potential in long-term practical application. Importantly, the piezoresistive pressure sensor was successfully applied to accurately detect different human behaviors including pulses, body motions and voice recognitions. Additionally, the sensing network integrated by the sensors also realized mapping and identifying spatial pressure distribution. Our method to construct the wide-range and high-sensitivity piezoresistive pressure sensor is facile, cost-effective and available for mass production. The findings provide a new direction to fabricate the new-generation high-performance sensors for healthcare, interactive wearable devices, electronic skin and smart robot.

论文链接：http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b16027