Flexible and Compressible Temperature Sensors Based on Hierarchically Buckled Carbon Nanotube/Rubber Bi-Sheath-Core Fibers

Abstract

Flexible and compressible temperature sensors are highly desired for artificial skin and epidermal electronics. Here we demonstrated a flexible and compressible resistive temperature sensor using hierarchically buckled carbon nanotube/rubber bi-sheath-core structure (a buckled carbon nanotube outer sheath and a buckled rubber inner sheath wrapped around a rubber fiber core). When heated, lateral contacts of the adjacent buckles increase, resulting in electrical resistance decrease and serving as highly sensitive temperature sensors. This bi-sheath-core fiber temperature sensor showed high linearity, good repeatability, large negative temperature coefficient of resistance (NTC = -54.7/°C), and insensitivity to compressive deformations (up to -20% strain). The NTC and temperature dependence of percent resistance change can be easily tuned by modulating the buckling bi-sheath-core structures such as varying the number of nanotube layers and the rubber sheath stiffness.

A Polypyrrole Elastomer Based on Confined Polymerization in a Host Polymer Network for Highly Stretchable Temperature and Strain Sensors

“…Rapid updates in soft electronic sensors greatly facilitate the development of wearable electronics . Many excellent sensing systems have been developed and applied with excellent flexibility and sensibility . Multimodal sensing is highly demanded for the integrated complex electronics.…”