Superior sensitive, high-tensile flexible fabric film strain sensor

Developing strain sensor with higher sensitivity and larger monitoring range is urgently needed for meeting the increasing potential applications of high-performance sensors in intelligent electronics, motion signal analysis and human monitoring. Herein, via an advanced and efficient method about embedding silver nanowires on electrospun thermoplastic polyurethane fabric film modified with carbon black, a high-performance flexible strain sensor is fabricated. The strain sensor exhibits excellent electrical response abilities of the superior sensitivity (gauge factor >16,000) with strain of 360%, an ultra-wide strain range (0.1% to 200%) and outstanding durability and reliability (>10,000 cycles) under cyclic stretching-recovering operating. Furthermore, mathematical fitting models about variation of resistance (AR/R0) and gauge factor upon the applied strains during the stretching process are proposed, which can quantitatively describe and analysis the variation of conductive pathways and inter-particles distance under the external stimuli. It is expected that such fitting models can be used to predict conductive sensing behaviors of flexible strain sensors for actual manufacturing and improvement of products.

Automated summary

Developing strain sensors with higher sensitivity and larger monitoring range is crucial for the potential applications in intelligent electronics, motion signal analysis, and human monitoring. This study presents a high-performance flexible strain sensor fabricated by embedding silver nanowires on a carbon black-modified electrospun thermoplastic polyurethane fabric film. The sensor exhibits excellent electrical response abilities, with superior sensitivity (gauge factor >16,000) over a strain range of 360% and exceptional durability and reliability (>10,000 cycles). Mathematical fitting models are proposed to quantitatively describe the variation of conductive pathways and inter-particles distance, providing valuable insights for the manufacturing and improvement of flexible strain sensors.