Silver-Nanoparticle-Modified Polyimide for Multiple Artificial Skin-Sensing Applications

Wearable devices have become very important for collecting health information and monitoring the condition of seriously ill patients. However, most recently developed wearable devices can only monitor limited signals within a very small range of values. A novel sensor is fabricated by modifying the surface of polyimide nanowires with silver nanoparticles. These nanowire sensors can sense both pressure and temperature changes and have antimicrobial properties. The fabricated sensor can detect a wide range of pressure variation from 5 KPa to 100 KPa. A theoretical model is developed to explain the sensing mechanism of the silver-nanoparticle-modified polyimide nanowires. The experimental and theoretical results for the nanowires are in good agreement. By attaching these sensors to human joints and fingers, real-time information can be detected for human motion, such as walking or holding a hot cup of water. The excellent performance of this device shows that it has great potential for use in artificial skins for detecting temperature and human motion.