Ionic flexible sensors (IFS) usually consist of an ionomer matrix and two conductive electrodes, the failure of which mostly originates from interfacial debonding between matrix and electrode layers. To improve electrode's adhesion and impedance matching with matrix, polymer binder or plasmonic heating technology is used to enhance the adhesion of electrodes, but there are technical challenges such as high resistance and harsh conditions. Herein, inspired by biological hair, we proposed a reliable and facile method to form AgNWs@Au-embedded Nafion flexible electrodes (AN FEs) for IFS without rigorous temperature and harsh conditions. Through integrating the spraying and electrodepositing Au method, we achieved that the AgNWs are partly embedded in the matrix layer for forming the embedded layer, similar to the root of biological hair, which is used to fix the FEs and collect the ion charges. The other parts of AgNWs exposed on the surface form the conductive mesh layer for transmitting the signal, analogous to the tip of biological hair. Compared with other AgNWs FEs, AN FEs exhibit high adhesion (∼358 kPa) and low sheet resistance (∼ 3.7 Ω/□), and high stabilities after 100 washing cycles, 200 s H 2 O 2 corrosion or 1500s HCl corrosion. A self-powered IFS prepared by AN FEs can achieve dual sensing of mechanical strain and ambient humidity and still has promising sensing performance after being exposed to air for 2 months, which further indicates potential applications of the prepared FEs in next-generation multifunctional flexible electronic devices.

Flexible wearable devices have attracted wide attention in capacious fields because of their real-time and continuous monitoring of human information. The development of flexible sensors and corresponding integration with wearable devices is of great significance to build smart wearable devices. In this work, multi-walled carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane-based (MWCNT/PDMS) resistive strain sensors and pressure sensors were developed to integrate a smart glove for human motion/perception detection. Firstly, MWCNT/PDMS conductive layers with excellent electrical and mechanical properties (resistivity of 2.897 KΩ · cm, elongation at break of 145%) were fabricated via a facile scraping-coating method. Then, a resistive strain sensor with a stable homogeneous structure was developed due to the similar physicochemical properties of the PDMS encapsulation layer and MWCNT/PDMS sensing layer. The resistance changes of the prepared strain sensor exhibited a great linear relationship with the strain. Moreover, it could output obvious repeatable dynamic response signals. It still had good cyclic stability and durability after 180° bending/restoring cycles and 40% stretching/releasing cycles. Secondly, MWCNT/PDMS layers with bioinspired spinous microstructures were formed by a simple sandpaper retransfer process and then assembled face-to-face into a resistive pressure sensor. The pressure sensor presented a linear relationship of relative resistance change and pressure in the range of 0–31.83 KPa with a sensitivity of 0.026 KPa−1, and a sensitivity of 2.769 × 10−4 KPa−1 over 32 KPa. Furthermore, it responded quickly and kept good cycle stability at 25.78 KPa dynamic loop over 2000 s. Finally, as parts of a wearable device, resistive strain sensors and a pressure sensor were then integrated into different areas of the glove. The cost-effective, multi-functional smart glove can recognize finger bending, gestures, and external mechanical stimuli, which holds great potential in the fields of medical healthcare, human-computer cooperation, and so on.

Ionic polymer–metal composites (IPMCs) have attracted attention in recent years due to their integration of actuation and sensing functions. As one of the main sensing functions of IPMCs, humidity sensing has been of consistent interest in wearable health monitors and artificial skin. However, there are still some technical challenges in that classical IPMCs have poor humidity sensing performance due to their dense surface electrode, and IPMCs are damaged easily due to an electrode/membrane mismatch. In this work, through the spraying and electrodepositing process, we developed an efficient method to rapidly prepare a Au-shell-Ag-NW (silver nanowire)-based IPMC with high strength, low surface resistance and excellent humidity sensing performance. Meanwhile, we optimized the preparation method by clarifying the influence of solvent type and electrodepositing time on the performance of the Au-shell-Ag-NW-based IPMC, thus effectively improving the humidity sensing effect and strength of the IPMC. Compared with previous research, the humidity electrical response (~9.6 mV) of the Au-shell-Ag-NW-based IPMC is at least two orders of magnitude higher than that of the classical IPMC (~0.41 mV), which is mainly attributed to the sparse gap structure for promoting the exchange of water molecules in the environment and Nafion membrane, a low surface resistance (~3.4 Ohm/sq) for transmitting the signal, and a seamless connection between the electrode and Nafion membrane for fully collecting the ion charges in the Nafion membrane. Additionally, the Au-shell-Ag-NW-based IPMC could effectively monitor the human breathing process, and the humidity sensing performance did not change after being exposed to the air for 4 weeks, which further indicates that the Au-shell-Ag-NW-based IPMC has good application potential due to its efficient preparation technology, high stability and good reproducibility.

Purpose This paper aims to improve the anti-interference ability of the airborne radar stabilization platform, especially the ability to suppress continuous disturbance under complex air conditions to ensure the clarity and stability of airborne radar imaging. Design/methodology/approach This paper proposes a new active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) strategy based on the cascade extended state observer (ESO) for airborne radar stabilization platform, which adopts two first-order ESOs to estimate the angular velocity value and the angular position value of the stabilized platform. Then makes the error signal which subtracts the estimated value of ESO from the output signal of the tracking-differentiator as the input signal of the nonlinear state error feedback (NLSEF), and according to the output signal of the NLSEF and the value which dynamically compensated the total disturbances estimated by the two ESO to produce the final control signal. Findings The simulation results show that, compared with the classical ADRC, the ADRC based on the cascade ESO not only estimates the unknown disturbance more accurately but also improves the delay of disturbance observation effectively due to the increase of the order of the observer. In addition, compared with the classical PID control and the classical ADRC, it has made great progress in response performance and anti-interference ability, especially in the complex air conditions. Originality/value The originality of the paper is the adoption of a new ADRC control strategy based on the cascade ESO to ameliorate the anti-interference ability of the airborne radar stabilization platform, especially the ability to suppress continuous interference under complex air conditions.

Purpose This paper aims to study a disturbance rejection controller to improve the anti-interference capability and the position tracking performance of airborne radar stabilized platform that ensures the stability and clarity of synthetic aperture radar imaging. Design/methodology/approach This study proposes a disturbance rejection control scheme for an airborne radar stabilized platform based on the active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) inverse estimation algorithm. Exploiting the extended state observer (ESO) characteristic, an inversely ESO is developed to inverse estimate the unmodeled state and extended state of the platform system known as total disturbances, which greatly improves the estimation performance of the disturbance. Then, based on the inverse ESO result, feedback the difference between the output of the tracking differentiator and the inverse ESO result to the nonlinear state error feedback controller (NLSEF) to eliminate the effects of total disturbance and ensure the stability of the airborne radar stabilized platform. Findings Simulation experiments are adopted to compare the performance of the ADRC inverse estimation algorithm with that of the proportional integral derivative controller which is one of the mostly applied control schemes in platform systems. In addition, classical ADRC is compared as well. The results have shown that the ADRC inverse estimation algorithm has a better disturbance rejection performance when disturbance acts in airborne radar stabilized platform, especially disturbed by continuous airflow under some harsh air conditions. Originality/value The originality of this paper is exploiting the ESO characteristic to develop an inverse ESO, which greatly improves the estimation performance of the disturbance. And the ADRC inverse estimation algorithm is applied to ameliorate the anti-interference ability of the airborne radar stabilization platform, especially the ability to suppress continuous interference under complex air conditions.