Toward flexible and antibacterial piezoresistive porous devices for wound dressing and motion detectors

Wearable and antibacterial porous devices are promising new multifunctional materials with a wide range of applications in wound dressing and human motion monitoring systems. The deposition of carbon nanotubes and polypyrrole coating on conventional elastomers (polyurethane) is a single-step procedure that results in a low-cost, highly conductive, and flexible piezoresistive material with pressure sensitivity of 0.09 kPa(-1), Gauge Factor of -10.3, high stability in response to different mechanical efforts and reversible netlike microcracks formation under moderate stretching deformation. The resulting porous material provides direct detection of simple movements from human joints (knee, finger, and elbow) and intrinsic antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Escherichia coli. (c) 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2018, 56, 1063-1072