3D wet-spinning printing of wearable flexible electronic sensors of polypyrrole@polyvinyl formate

Polymer based 3D printings are generally generated from the melt fluids or gels instead of polymer solu-tion. Inspired by continuous wet-spinning of polymer fiber, we explored a new polyvinyl formate (PVFm) printing ink which was directly coagulated by water and mold into designed 3D elastic architectures layer-by-layer. The degree of esterification (DE), chemical structure, morphology, and mechanical prop-erties of PVFm were all investigated. Furthermore, 3D PVFm was coated by polypyrrole (PPy) via in-situ polymerization to fabricate wearable flexible electronic sensors. The relative resistance changes and sen-sitivity of PPy@PVFm on monitoring physical strain and pressure were characterized. Results show that PPy@PVFm could stably and sensitively recognize human body activities through relative changes in resistance in a wide range of linear relationship. Therefore, a new protocol is readily to realize a strategy of 3D wet-spinning printing and wearable flexible electronic sensors.(c) 2022 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study explores a new printing ink for polyvinyl formate (PVFm) that can be coagulated by water and mold to fabricate 3D elastic structures. Wearable flexible electronic sensors were fabricated by coating PVFm with polypyrrole (PPy) through in-situ polymerization. The resistance changes and sensitivity of PPy@PVFm in monitoring physical strain and pressure were characterized.