Highly Flexible Strain Sensor from Tissue Paper for Wearable Electronics

We introduce a simple method to fabricate a highly flexible resistive-type strain sensor composed of carbon paper (CP) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer. The key resistance sensitive material of the sensor, carbon paper, is prepared from tissue paper by a simple high-temperature pyrolysis process. At the same time, the as-fabricated CP/PDMS strain senor is highly sensitive to applied strain with a gauge factor of 25.3, almost 10 times higher than that of conventional metallic strain gauge. Furthermore, the response of CP/PDMS strain sensor under cyclic tensile strain with a peak strain of 3% was also investigated, which exhibits fast and steady response with excellent durability within the frequency range 0.01–10 Hz. Finally, we demonstrate the successful utilization of the CP/PDMS strain sensor as wearable electronics in breath monitoring and robot controlling. The eminent performance, low material cost, and facile fabrication process make the CP/PDMS strain sensor exceptionally promising in flexible, stretchable, and wearable electronics.

本研究提出一种简易制备方法，用以制备由碳纸（carbon paper）与聚二甲基硅氧烷（polydimethylsiloxane，PDMS）弹性体构成的高柔性电阻式应变传感器。该传感器的核心电阻敏感材料为碳纸，其以薄页纸为原料，经简易高温热解工艺制备得到。与此同时，所制备的CP/PDMS应变传感器对施加的应变具有极高的灵敏度，其灵敏系数为25.3，约为传统金属应变片的10倍。此外，本研究还探究了该CP/PDMS应变传感器在峰值应变为3%的循环拉伸应变下的响应特性，其在0.01~10 Hz的频率范围内展现出快速稳定的响应与优异的耐久性。最后，本研究展示了该CP/PDMS应变传感器作为可穿戴电子器件在呼吸监测与机器人控制中的成功应用。该传感器凭借优异的性能、低廉的材料成本与简易的制备工艺，在柔性、可拉伸及可穿戴电子领域极具应用前景。