Recently the ever‐increasing demand for wearable electronics has greatly triggered the development of flexible strain sensors. However, it is still challenging to simultaneously achieve high sensitivity, wide working range, and good wearability. Herein, we developed a highly stretchable fiber strain sensor based on wet‐spun porous polyurethane (PU) fiber, and especially a unique conductive network of dual silver (Ag)/carbon black (CB) layers is constructed. Under strain, the rapid crack propagation on the brittle Ag layer brings a large resistance change and thus high sensitivity, while the tunneling‐effect dominated CB layer bridges the separated Ag islands to maintain the integrity of conductive pathways under large strain. By means of the synergistic effect of Ag/CB layers, this composite fiber of Ag/CB@PU presents not only high conductivity of 5139.9 S/m, but also ultrahigh sensitivity with a gauge factor of 2.52 × 106 and a wide working range of up to 200%. Besides that, it is also capable of detecting very tiny strain of 0.1% and working stably for over 8000 cycles. Using mature weaving technology, this fiber strain sensor can be seamlessly integrated into the textile to conformally track different movements of the human body. Together with the facile all‐solution‐based fabrication protocol, this work proposed a new strategy to prepare high‐performance fiber strain sensor, promising the textile‐based wearable applications.
Sensing fabrics have received great attention due to various applications in medical area, healthcare, and smart clothes. However, there are very few studies on sensing fabrics that can be used to monitor the pressure of compression garments. In this study, a pressure exerting and sensing fabric is fabricated by interweaving highly sensitive yarn sensor into woven fabric using industrial-scale weaving technology. By using a new method for measuring the pressure sensing capabilities under external stresses from a curved surface, effects of fabric structure and operation mode on the pressure and electromechanical properties are evaluated. New fabric structures are proposed to deliberately arrange the yarn sensing elements in a less-or even non-binding form within the fabric for good elasticity and sensing properties. Arising from the appropriate material selection and structure feature, the sensing fabric realizes a suitable and stable amount of induced pressure as well as very low stress relaxation. Consequently, the sensing fabric with sateen structure demonstrates very good pressure sensing performance with sensitivity of 1.22 kPa −1 , low hysteresis error of 8.06%, and linearity of 0.98 in the desired pressure range from 0.58 to 3.83 kPa. Furthermore, the fabric exhibits excellent stability over 4500 pressing cycles.
With the development of energy‐harvesting fabrics, woven structured textile‐based triboelectric nanogenerators (T‐TENGs) are widely proposed. However, most T‐TENGs with woven structures consist of one material, which greatly limits the functionality of T‐TENGs. This work focuses on structural design and rational material configuration to realize versatility of woven‐structured T‐TENG by a green, eco‐friendly, scalable production method. A 3D triboelectric nanogenerator fabric (3D SP‐FTENG) is proposed, which performs excellent electrical output (27.33 V, 1.76 µA, and 61.6 mW m−2) and wearability (directional water transport and breathability) as well as antibacterial activity. Moreover, in contrast to the previously reported multilayer T‐TENGs which are constructed by directly stacking multilayer functional fabrics together, the fabric interface of this new structure fabricated by weaving the support area and the functional area together is not easily delaminated. The 3D SP‐FTENG demonstrates outstanding durability (machine washability and ultrahigh abrasion resistance). In addition, the SP‐FTENG is able to drive wearable electronics and be used as a self‐powered sensor, such as constantly monitoring the movement signals of human body. This study presents a novel and sustainable strategy for the development of eco‐friendly multifunctional T‐TENGs.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.