A highly stretchable and stable strain sensor based on hybrid carbon nanofillers/polydimethylsiloxane conductive composites for large human motions monitoring

Strategies for Designing Stretchable Strain Sensors and Conductors

“…PDMS, another type of highly stretchable polymer, has also been widely used to prepare sensors or conductors . Conductive nanomaterials including carbon black, CNFs, and graphene can be dispersed in PDMS prepolymer through ultrasonication and the subsequent curing leads to polymer composites with high electrical conductivities.…”

Multifunctional flexible and stretchable polyurethane/carbon nanotube strain sensor for human breath monitoring

“…It is their special attention for technology of sensors mainly for deformation detection, which is very topical. An excellent deformation capability compared to the traditional rigid metallic strain gauges and conductors predetermines them for new and beneficial applications . These composite materials are usually composed as two component systems using electrically conductive filler (nanowires or metal particles, but mainly carbon‐based materials like carbon nanotubes [CNTs], carbon nanofibers, carbon black [CB], graphite flakes, graphite, or graphene [GF]) dispersed in a polymeric matrix or superimposed on polymer‐based support.…”

“…In another case, polymer/graphite sensor was capable to detect very soft human movements such as pulses, respiration rates, and throat vibration . In the next paper, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)‐based composites were fabricated by using a solution mixing‐casting molding method incorporating into matrix hybrid CNTs/CB nanofillers . Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis confirmed that CB nanoparticles bridge the gaps between the neighboring CNTs, leading to a synergistic effect in electrical conductivity of the conductive networks inside the PDMS matrix, simultaneously with an improvement in the strain sensing performance of CNTs‐CB/PDMS sensor.…”

“…An excellent deformation capability compared to the traditional rigid metallic strain gauges and conductors predetermines them for new and beneficial applications. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] These composite materials are usually composed as two component systems using electrically conductive filler (nanowires 2 or metal particles, 3 but mainly carbon-based materials like carbon nanotubes [CNTs], [4][5][6][7][8][9] carbon nanofibers, 1 carbon black [CB], 10 graphite flakes, 11 graphite, 12 or graphene [GF] 13 ) dispersed in a polymeric matrix or superimposed on polymer-based support. The deformation of these polymer composite units results in a change in their electrical conductivity due to the piezoresistive properties of the CNT conductive network.…”

“…Finally, they also have other very perspective functional properties such as high sensitivity to deformation stimulus, reversibility of responses, durability, and detection capability over many cycles. These advantageous functional properties predestine them to be materials very asked for and required for arising areas of interests such as health monitoring, 12 human-friendly wearable interactive systems or human motion detection, 5,6,8,9,14 human-machine interfaces, 5,15 electronic skins, 4 smart fabrics, 15,16 soft and smart robotics, 14 or athletic training. 12 As straightforward examples of practical compositions, properties and applications of elastic polymer composite materials applied for mechanical strain detection can be summarized in the following paragraph.…”