Channel-Crack-Designed Suspended Sensing Membrane as a Fully Flexible Vibration Sensor with High Sensitivity and Dynamic Range

Vibration sensors are essential for signal acquisition, motion measuring, and structural health evaluations in civil and industrial applications. However, the mechanical brittleness and complicated installation process of micro-electromechanical system vibration sensors block their applications in wearable devices and human-machine interaction. The development of flexible vibration sensors satisfying the requirements of good flexibility, high sensitivity, and the ability to attach conformably on curved critical components is highly demanded but still remains a challenge. Here, we demonstrate a highly sensitive and fully flexible vibration sensor with a channel-crack-designed suspended sensing membrane for high dynamic vibration and acceleration monitoring. The flexible sensor is designed as a suspended vibration membrane structure by bonding a channel-crack-sensing membrane on a cavity substrate, of which the suspended sensing membrane can freely vibrate out of plane under external vibration. By inducing the cracks to be generated in the embedded multiwalled carbon nanotube channels and fully cracked across the conducting routes, the suspended vibration membrane shows high sensitivity, good reproducibility, and robust sensing stability. The resultant vibration sensor demonstrates an ultrawide frequency vibration response range from 0.1 to 20,000 Hz and exhibits the ability to respond to acceleration vibration with a broad response of 0.24-100 m/s(2). The high sensitivity, wide bandwidth, and fully flexible format of the vibration sensor enable it to be directly attached on human bodies and curvilinear surfaces to conduct in situ vibration sensing, which was demonstrated by motion detection, voice identification, and the vibration monitoring of mechanical equipment.

Automated summary

The study demonstrated a highly sensitive and fully flexible vibration sensor with a channel-crack-designed suspended sensing membrane. It can be widely applied in human-machine interaction, voice identification, and mechanical equipment vibration monitoring.