At present, pressure sensor textiles are of great significance in the area of wearable electronics, especially for making smart or intelligent textiles. However, the design of these textile-based devices with sensitive ability, simple fabrication, and low cost is still challenging. In this study, we developed a triboelectric sensing textile constructed with core−shell yarns. Nylon filament and polytetrafluoroethylene filament were selected as the positive and negative layers, respectively, in the woven structure while the built-in helical stainless steel yarn was serving as the inner electrode layer. The sensitivity of the sensing textile can reach up to 1.33 V•kPa −1 and 0.32 V•kPa −1 in the pressure range of 1.95−3.13 kPa and 3.20−4.61 kPa, respectively. This sensing textile presented good mechanical stability and sensing capability even after 4200 cycles of continuous operation or after 4 h continuous water washing. Benefiting from the favorable merits of being highly flexible, breathable, lightweight, and even dyeable, the fabricated device was capable of being placed on any desired body parts for quantifying the dynamic human motions. It can be effectively used to measure and monitor various human movements associated with different joints, such as the hand, elbow, knee, and underarm. Moreover, the sensing textile was able to capture real-time pulse signals and reflect the current health status for human beings. This study affords an innovative and promising track for multifunctional pressure sensor textiles with wide applications in smart textiles and personalized healthcare.
Nowadays, real-time human motion sensing and pulse monitoring can provide significant basis for health assessment and medical diagnosis. Nevertheless, it is still a big challenge to design a lightweight, flexible, and energysustainable pressure sensor with high sensitivity and breathability. Here, we fabricated a triboelectric all-fiber structured pressure sensor via a facile electrospinning technique. The constructed sensor textile holds a composite structure made up of a polyvinylidene fluoride/Ag nanowire nanofibrous membrane (NFM), an ethyl cellulose NFM, and two layers of conductive fabrics. This wearable device with high shape adaptability exhibited excellent sensing capability because of the introduced hierarchically rough structure on the nanofibers. The sensitivity can reach up to 1.67 and 0.20 V•kPa −1 in the pressure range of 0−3 and 3−32 kPa, respectively. The fabricated sensor textile also showed a superior mechanical stability even after continuous operation of 7200 working cycles. This sensor textile was easily conformable on different desired body parts for dynamic motion sensing and real-time pulse monitoring. It can work in a self-powered manner to detect and quantify various human motions associated with joints, such as elbows, knees, and ankles. Additionally, it can be placed on the carotid artery to capture the pulse signals, serving as a reliable way to reflect the state of health. This work has great possibilities to promote the rapid advancement and broad applications of multifunctional pressure sensors and next-generation wearable electronics.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.