High-performance fibrous strain sensor with synergistic sensing layer for human motion recognition and robot control

Covalently Interconnected Thermoplastic Polymeric Nanofiber/Carbon Nanotube Composite Nanofibrous Aerogels for Piezoresistive Sensors

“…With the rapid development of artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing, sensing technology has widely penetrated into various fields of people’s life, including wearable devices, electronic skin, human–computer interaction, and intelligent robots. − Pressure sensors, as core components of those products, have garnered substantial research attention due to their lightweight nature, high sensitivity, fast response speed, broad detection range, and excellent stability. − According to different working mechanisms, pressure sensors proposed currently are mainly based on piezoresistive, piezoelectric, capacitive, and frictional electric mechanisms. − Specifically, piezoresistive pressure sensors are known as one of the most promising pressure sensors due to their simple structure, convenient signal acquisition, high sensitivity, rapid response speed, and facile processing. − However, conventional piezoresistive sensors (both metal and semiconductor) are often constrained by limited sensing ranges and inadequate flexibility. Consequently, the pursuit of flexible pressure sensors with exceptional performance across a wide detection range remains a significant challenge.…”

Wearable flexible pressure sensors: an intriguing design towards microstructural functionalization

“…Flexible electronics, as an emerging and vigorous research field, have attracted considerable attention for application in various fields, such as electronic skin, 1–3 medical monitoring, 4–6 and intelligent robots. 7–9 These devices serve as the primary terminals for collecting motion signals from the human body or robots, which are then transmitted wirelessly to the cloud, creating a platform for cloud-based data analysis. Among the key components of flexible electronic devices, flexible pressure sensors play a crucial role in converting external pressure into electrical signals using sensing mechanisms, such as piezoresistive, 10,11 capacitive, 12–15 piezoelectric, 16,17 and triboelectric mechanisms.…”

Comprehensive Investigation of the Temperature-Dependent Electromechanical Behaviors of Carbon Nanotube/Polymer Composites

“…Strain sensors transform mechanical signals into electrical output, such as variations in voltage, capacitance, and resistance. − Recently, plenty of studies about flexible strain sensors have been extensively carried out as a result of their potential applications in the fields of prosthetics, personal healthcare, artificial intelligence, human motion tracking, electronic skins, robotics, and beyond. − Among these flexible strain sensors, piezoresistive sensors based on conductive polymer composites (CPCs), which are formed by incorporation of conductive nanofillers into flexible polymers, play a crucial role in wearable devices. − Generally, when the content of nanofillers is sufficiently high to form a conductive network, the polymer composites would transition from an insulator to a conductor and achieve piezoresistive sensing capability. − Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a type of polymer elastomer has been widely used in the field of flexible strain/pressure sensors. − For example, a carbon nanotube (CNT)/PDMS composite film-based strain sensor fabricated by Zhao et al exhibits high effectiveness in discriminating pressure magnitude and spatial distribution . Yamada et al also prepared CNT/PDMS composite films, which are capable of detecting various human movements, such as typing, breathing, and speech …”