Flexible Sensor for Invisible Respiratory Monitoring via Construction of a 2D Stacked Micronetwork

Abstract

With the advent of 5G and the Internet of Things era, sensitive and stable sensors have begun to develop rapidly, which are important substantial fundaments of smart medical care. In this study, based on the positive temperature coefficient (PTC) in conductive polymer composites (CPC), a novel polyolefin elastomer (POE)/carbon fiber (CF) composite was prepared. By regulating the rheological behavior of the polymer matrix, we realized its controllable thermal expansion in the temperature field and finally realized the reversible construction–destruction of the conductive CF network. Under optimal molecular weight conditions, the POE/CF PTC sensor showed a high sensitivity of 0.11 °C –1 and stability. It was also demonstrated that the heat transfer efficiency of the composite material played an essential role in the sensitivity of the as-prepared PTC sensor. Most impressively, we have assembled an invisible respiratory monitoring device based on the POE/CF composite to achieve real-time monitoring of human breathing, which displayed wide potential prospects in thermal monitoring and provided good prospects for micron-scale functional composites.