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.